A Different Quiet Exit
by Hyperwryter88
Summary: Alternate ending to MGSV where Quiet survives and returns with Venom Snake to Diamond Dogs' Mother Base. How she copes with the event and accepts her place alongside the Diamond Dogs group and its leader. Rated M for language and a sex scene. I don't own anything Metal Gear related.
1. Chapter 1

**An MGSV fic I've had in my head for a while after completing the game. I worked on it slowly as I was busy with my other stories.**

 **Since the game's ending is a sad one, here in my version, Quiet never speaks English even after Venom Snake is poisoned, and they escape together alive and well.**

 **Warning: this chapter contains a sex scene, which is also my first time writing one.**

 **I don't own MGS games and stuff.**

* * *

With a voracious sandstorm on the way, a fleet of Soviet troops hunting for them and unable to summon a chopper for evacuation, Venom Snake, outnumbered and defenseless, saw that he could not stay in the palace ruins for long and that there was only one thing to do right now in order to avoid death the upcoming army.

He had to travel straight into the sandstorm itself. It would be risky, but at least it would provide lots of cover for him and Quiet from the invading troops.

"No sun, no water. Don't you dry up on me, now." he said as he hoisted Quiet up over his back fireman-style and ventured into the sand-engulfed desert with her.

The sniper woman was unconscious as a result of their battle against invading Soviets earlier. At the end, one tank shot a round at them. It didn't kill them, but it did hurt her hard enough to injure her with a nasty bruise on her side and knock her out, but not seconds before she too fired a rocket of her own at it from Venom Snake's RPG and blew it up to smithereens. Despite the attack, she survived thanks to her parasites although she remained incapacitated for now.

With no access to any sunlight or water, her injuries would take longer to heal and they had no time to wait for the storm to clear to gain access to sunlight because, as stated previously, Soviet soldiers were headed their way after Venom and Quiet's grueling battle against their armies. The two succeeded in driving them back earlier and now here they were, running for their lives from the extra backup in the middle of a blinding storm of sand.

Well, he was doing most of the running. At least being lost in the desert was better than getting caught and/or gunned down by a bunch of vengeful Soviets.

Venom had flown here to find her after she ran off from Mother Base and was determined to bring her back safe and sound, parasite carrier or not. He refused to lose her. She was special to him.

Some of the staff back at Mother Base thought Quiet's escape was out of betrayal, especially Miller due to the strong dislike he had for the woman ever since the day she was brought to their base and was not shy of showing it. But Venom sensed that treachery was not the reason for her departure. It was because, after the second parasitic outbreak happened and caused a lot more deaths than the first outbreak, she feared that, because she was a parasite infectee too, her silence alone would not be enough to prevent a third incident from happening. She believed she was doing them a favor with her absence because, with her gone, a third outbreak would never happen.

Of course, there was also the option of removing her vocal parasite via Code Talker's treatment or throat surgery. But she didn't consider it at the time.

Venom Snake's presence in the barren desert to fetch Quiet was not because of business, it was a personal thing. He wanted his silent friend back safe. He's lost so many friends and comrades over the years, especially female ones, and he would not let it happen with this woman today.

After a minute of running blindly into the storm and successfully evading the soldiers, Quiet started to twitch and spasm and he was forced to drop her onto the sand. He tried his best to gently calm her down as she twitched violently. She stopped and before Venom could react, she shook again until she stopped and he decided to carry her in a different way.

He went behind her, placed his hands under her arms, locked them around and above her chest, (being careful not to touch her breasts out of respect), and dragged her away.

After a minute, he saw a large rock up close and placed Quiet and himself behind it just in time as a lone Soviet soldier approached the scene, trying to find his targets.

Venom remained silent and well hidden as he stared at the Soviet soldier who had not found them yet. He and Quiet had their own handguns with them, but both firearms lacked suppressor attachments and firing them would result in more of the soldier's friends finding them and he and Quiet were outmatched and outgunned with very little ammo left for self-defense if that happened.

Plus, Quiet was without her rifle as she dropped it back at the palace after the battle ended, so she too would be unable to have a firefight with them if she were awake.

He held Quiet in his arms, keeping her and himself out of the soldier's sight.

As the soldier inched closer, Quiet started to shake and moan again and Venom had to carefully restrain her and keep her from giving their position away. He was hoping the storm was loud enough to keep the lone Soviet from hearing the noises she was making.

She stopped and Venom placed his bionic hand across her cheek to hold her in place and she calmed down for now.

If Quiet were awake and healthy, she could easily dispatch the soldier and save them the trouble of hiding.

He noticed the soldier raising his gun near their direction. Did he discover them already?

Remembering that he lost his knife back at the palace, Venom slowly reached for Quiet's knife, ready to kill the soldier with it. But he stopped after noticing the soldier was aiming his rifle at something else close to them.

It was not them he was aiming at, it was an animal. A snake, a cobra which the Diamond Dogs founder and leader found ironic.

While cautious around the cobra, Venom was kind of hoping the snake would attack the soldier and drive him away. That's be the one good thing for the animal's appearance.

That would never happen because the unnamed soldier opened fire on the snake while Venom did his best not to make a sound from the gunfire. He was used to hearing gunfire, but still, it was loud.

The shooting stopped and the soldier picked the now-dead snake off the ground on the tip of his gun's barrel and examined it. He seemed satisfied with his kill and tossed the body away.

Unable to find his targets and not wanting to waste any ammo on more useless animals, the soldier turned around and walked away, much to Venom's relief.

But his celebration was short-lived when he saw and heard another snake crawling toward them, hissing at the two.

Quiet twitched again and the snake slithered toward them, hissing more aggressively.

The snake eyed Quiet. Venom knew what was going to happen as the animal inched closer toward them. It was going to bite her!

He would not allow that. He didn't come this far to save Quiet from the hands of violent Soviet soldiers just to have her poisoned and killed by some wild animal. He wondered if her parasites made her immune to toxins of all kinds. He'd have to ask Code Talker about it later when they rode back to base as he was the expert of the parasites, but he'd rather not find out this way now.

When the snake coiled back and lunged, he quickly placed his right arm between Quiet and the cobra, protecting her from harm, but also getting himself bitten in the process.

 _ **Shit!**_ he thought and did his best to suppress the urge to yell in pain.

The snake latched on, injecting him with its own toxin in seconds.

Venom got the animal to release his arm, grabbed it, lifted it over the side of the large rock and smashed its head against it, killing the animal instantly. He tossed the body away and silently groaned in pain and stared at his bitten hand.

Quiet was fine, but he was not.

 ** _Fuck!_** He thought in agony. He was poisoned, but to him, it was worth it to keep Quiet safe.

The soldier thought he heard something until he was called away by other Soviets and he walked toward them and away from his hidden targets.

Soon, the soldiers were all gone, probably off to keep searching somewhere else away from them, and Venom and Quiet were now alone in the barren desert.

Venom suddenly felt close to blacking out. The poison was already starting to affect him, but he had to resist the urge long enough to save himself.

He reached into his pouch and got something out of it.

What he had in his hand was an antivenom serum. He always carried a few of these in case he were ever poisoned during a mission and now was the perfect time to use one of them.

 _ **Good thing I brought these with me**._ He thought as he followed the procedure on injections and plunged the needle into his neck as it was the only bare spot available due to him being covered all over.

When the needle was empty, he disposed of it and laid gently against the large rock, waiting for the serum to do its job. He hoped there were no more poisonous snakes around because he had brought only two serums and he just used one of them.

Venom held Quiet close to himself and cradled her gently to shield her from the sand as she was almost bare while he was heavily clothed. He gently stroked her hair and forehead with his real hand, wiping away whatever dirt and sand was on her face as she remained out. He looked at the black bruise on her side and reminded himself to seek medical attention for her when they out of this mess.

Truth be told, he had fallen for this woman, something he thought was impossible. They started off as enemies at first with two near-fatal encounters, but after recruiting her to Mother Base, he only saw her as another fellow soldier like all the others and nothing more.

However, as they spent more time with each other on and off the base, as much as he tried to resist his attraction to Quiet to focus on his responsibilities as Diamond Dogs' leader, he became better acquainted with her and, aside from killing hostiles and destroying vehicles, Quiet's personality and views evolved from cold and hostile to gentle and friendly as evidenced when she silently flirted with him during helicopter rides, invited him to shower with her in her cell from that time he went days without hygiene, goofed off with him on a rainy day, gave him cigars as a present for his birthday and even lit one for him by shooting its tip when he held it in his mouth and risked her own safety to retrieve a child's soldier's pendent from a highly dangerous gas pit on the base.

Would a ruthless, evil assassin do those kind of things? He risked life and death bringing her to his base, hoping to change her for the better when everyone else saw her as a dangerous enemy and Venom was now happy to have met Quiet and had no regrets over sparing and recruiting her, nor did he regret coming here to save her from captivity.

With nobody in sight now and having taken an antidote injection, Venom finally allowed himself to relax now that he knew he was out of danger and would survive the poison. He kept Quiet cradled in his arms as he rested.

Eventually, Quiet woke up first and took a look around. The sand blew across her almost-bare body. It didn't hurt her much, but she ignored it anyway.

The sandstorm was still brewing, but it was less harsh this time. Even with her parasite powers, she could not see anything beyond the walls of sand that invaded the terrain. The only good thing from their situation was that at least the Soviet army was gone. She saw Venom Snake napping so he wasn't aware that he was awake yet and also saw his arms wrapped over her, keeping her close to himself.

She was alone now with him.

Quiet couldn't believe that he ventured all the way out here just for her, even after she tried to kill him twice before and her reason for coming to his base being discovered by him. She fled to get away from him and Diamond Dogs to keep them all safe from her parasite and yet he still showed up for her. She was very touched by his deed. He could have left her to be tortured and killed as payback for the outbreak on the base and for her double assassination attempts against him, but he didn't. She felt that he was probably going to be angry with her for leaving when this was all over and she was prepared to take the heat, believing she deserved it because none of this would be happening right now if she just stayed put on Mother Base.

Ever since joining Diamond Dogs and participating in missions with Venom Snake, Quiet had also clearly developed similar feelings for him as he had for her. She never thought befriending, and later, falling in love with the man she was supposed to hate and kill would ever happen. But it did.

When Quiet began to warm up to him, she slowly started rethinking her life choices and began to regret all she had done before and after she joined Diamond Dogs. The big things she regretted most of all were her involvements with the attack on that hospital in Cyprus, her duel with him at the ruins, her short fight with him when she confronted an infected D.D. member for having a Kikongo language strain and, recently, leaving Mother Base after that second outbreak happened without an explanation, the latter being the reason she and him got into this current situation of theirs in the first place.

While feeling heavy guilt for those things, like Venom Snake, she too was also glad to have met him and did not regret her new friendship with him. After gaining his friendship, she personally renounced all loyalty she had of XOF. She was a Diamond Dog now and the black ops group she once worked for was now her enemy along with her former commander, the deceased Skull Face. If given the chance, she would have gladly killed him on the day Venom took out Sahelantropus.

He can rot in all the circles of Hell for all she cared.

But the one thing she can never deny was that the new person she is today, both her abilities and personality, would not exist if it weren't for Skull Face, Venom Snake and that mysterious man with the bandages on his face from the hospital. After Venom and the bandaged man badly immolated her, her XOF teammates found her, brought her to Skull Face who put her through the parasite therapy that restored her back to full health and gave her the abilities she currently had and tasked her into finding Big Boss, become a captive of his intentionally, be brought to his base of operations and end him and all of Diamond Dogs with her English strain as his ace in the hole. She was his back-up plan in case he failed to kill Big Boss and perished (which he did) and she later admitted this to Code Talker after her true reason for coming to Mother Base was discovered. But due to her growing romantic feelings toward their leader, she found herself unable to use her strain and she abandoned her original plans and personally cut off her allegiance to Skull Face and XOF permanently. She never wanted to return to them ever again. She wanted to stay with Diamond Dogs, with Venom Snake, forever.

Plus, he treated her much better than Skull Face and the rest of XOF ever did. Except for Skull Face, the entire unit, who were mostly males, didn't take her seriously, treating her like a second-class citizen because of her gender. It was like a girl in a "boys' only" club. Because she was the only woman in XOF, she had to toughen up and work extra hard to show the others that she was not someone to mess with and lived with the belief that emotions were a distraction and a weakness in the unit and in life. That was why she was bitter most of the time. Especially when, similar to what that Soviet soldier almost did to her at the palace, one of her former XOF comrades tried to make a sexual move on her and it ended with her smashing his testicles to the point where he was dependent on a wheelchair to get around.

In a way, all three people are the reasons she was a heroine now. It was a hard road at first, but now she loved her new position. She wanted to tell Venom how she felt about him so badly, but her strain prevented her from doing so. She could have told him in writing or in Navajo with Code Talker translating what she said, but she still would not because a part of her still desired revenge against Big Boss.

But considering what happened to them earlier, her time spent with the person she was assigned to kill, and what the outcome may have been had they both failed to survive the onslaught, or if Venom Snake died in the fighting, Quiet started to reconsider her vengeance plans because she realized how much trouble they have led her to, almost getting killed a few times other than what happened a few minutes ago and luring Snake here to risk life and death to save her.

Making a choice now, she dropped her personal grudge and decided to focus on the better life she had with Diamond Dogs and with Big Boss. She no longer wanted revenge. To her, it just was not worth it anymore.

With her grudge dead, she also desired to see Code Talker later on about the possibility of ridding herself of her vocal parasite so that she can talk to Venom in English. Despite telling the old man that she would never speak English again, she wanted to in the future. Her refusal of his treatment was when she felt she deserved to be silent as a punishment for her days as an assassin, but now she no longer wanted that.

She wondered if the treatment would strip her of her abilities. While she now wished to rid herself of her English strain, she did not want her abilities gone. They helped her survive a lot better than without them before and she rather liked having them. Plus, they were what helped retain her human appearance considering what happened to her at Cyprus. She wouldn't be alive with Big Boss if she were never subjected to Skull Face's parasitic therapy.

Soon Venom Snake stirred awake. His vision was blurry and he took a moment to adjust and slowly moved his hand to check on it after the bite.

Quiet noticed his movement sounds and placed a hand on him to get his attention and he responded by quickly turning to her direction with a knife in his hand, which Quiet quickly recognized was hers, and had it aimed at her neck.

She didn't bother to defend herself as she realized it was a reaction. She did surprise him, after all.

Venom relaxed when he realized it was only her.

"Quiet. You're awake." he said and, upon realizing the knife was Quiet's, he gave it back to her and she took it.

She knelt down to him, helping him sit up.

He studied the blazing storm. There was no way they were going to be able to walk or run their way out of this and there were no vehicles around to use either.

"Sorry about that. You just surprised me, is all." he said and she smiled and patted him on the shoulder, expressing no hard feelings.

"Are we alone?" he asked and she nodded.

"Are you alright? You had a nasty bruise on your side from that tank blast earlier." he asked her.

Quiet looked at her midsection and saw nothing on her side. The bruise was gone, healed thanks to her parasites.

"I'll take that as a 'yes'." he said and looked around his utility belt for his water canteen to give to her, but he didn't have it.

"Crap. I had a canteen of water with me, but I must have lost it in the fight. Sorry." he said.

Quiet smiled and waved her hand in a "No problem" way. She didn't care for that now. His company was all that she desired. They were together again and that was all that mattered.

She noticed the dead snake beside them and gave him a "What is that?" look at him while pointing to it. She never noticed it while she was awake.

H turned and saw the dead animal.

"It was about to bite you while you were unconscious. It bit me instead and I killed it. I couldn't let it hurt you." he explained.

Quiet was scared after hearing he was bitten by the animal.

"Don't worry though. I took an antidote serum I brought afterwards otherwise I wouldn't talking to you now." he said to calm her down and it worked as she sighed in relief.

While grinning on the outside, inside, she was feeling rather foolish for being partly the reason for their current problem. Her guilt would have risen tenfold if Venom did die in the battle or by that dead snake on the ground. She would have truly killed Big Boss as she originally intended if those things happened and even with her abilities, she would not be able to resuscitate him unlike her.

She was now relieved that he was still alive.

"Once this storm blows over, we'll summon Pequod to pick us up." he said.

Quiet agreed and, wanting to comfort Venom Snake, Quiet inched closer to him, hoping to engulf him in a hug as gratitude for what he did for her.

Suddenly, his iDroid beeped and a voice spoke.

 _"This is Pequod. Do you read me?"_ called the pilot called 'Pequod'.

Quiet and Venom looked at the device as he grabbed it.

 _"This is Pequod. Ahab, what is your position? We can't stick around any longer. Talk to me, Boss!"_ said Pequod.

Venom and Quiet stayed silent for a few seconds. Not out of ignoring Pequod, they were trying to figure out how to respond.

 _"This is Pequod! Ahab, Ahab, do you copy?"_

Nothing.

 _"We can't stick around any longer. We have zero visibility. We're gonna have to pull back. Cutting transmissions."_

At that moment, Venom inched the iDroid toward his lips and spoke into it.

"Pequod." he said.

 _"Boss? Boss, is that you?"_

"Yes, I'm here. I found Quiet, we fought off the Soviets and we're now stranded alone in a sandstorm." he said.

 _"You found her? Excellent. I'm in the area as I speak, but I can't see where you two are in this storm. You're going to have to guide me to your location, Boss."_ said Pequod.

Speaking slowly and clearly, Venom fed directions to Pequod, letting him know his and Quiet's whereabouts.

Quiet knelt next to him while this happened, watching out for enemies. Despite being dry, she was still able to use her powers and fight if danger appeared.

When Venom finished, a bright light suddenly shone down on them. Their ride was here.

"Pequod, I can see you. I have a visual." Venom said.

 _"There you are, Ahab! Visual confirmed!"_ Pequod said through the device.

"Pequod, hurry! This way!" Venom said.

 _"Get back! I'm about to descend!"_ said Pequod.

Venom and Quiet got up and backed away as the helicopter started to lower itself down to the ground close to them.

When it was close enough, Pequod waved at them from inside while the door opened and Venom and Quiet saw a couple of D.D. soldiers inside the helicopter.

"Get in!" one of them said.

Venom and Quiet walked toward the helicopter. Quiet went inside first before he went in next. He shut the door and they all sat down on the seats. They were now safe from the blistering winds and scorching deserts.

"Strap yourselves in, you two. We're getting out of here." said Pequod.

"Wait Pequod! Don't fly away just yet." said Venom.

"What? Why not?" Pequod asked.

"The sandstorm's too strong and the chopper won't operate properly while the storm's active. Let's wait it out until it dies down." Venom said.

"You sure, Boss?" asked the pilot.

"Yes. There's nobody else around for miles, so it's safe to remain here until it's clear. If we fly now, we might crash or explode." said Venom.

"Got a point there, Boss. Okay, we'll wait until the storm is gone. Oh, and good to see you again, Quiet. I was hoping he'd find you." said Pequod.

Quiet smiled at Pequod's support of her.

The other D.D. soldiers shook hands with her, indicating that they were happy she was safe. Quiet assumed they still hated her when she first saw them, but, from their behavior, perhaps they started to show some respect to her.

Pequod fully placed the chopper down on the ground and deactivated the engine, leaving all passengers inside the helicopter in the middle of the blazing sandstorm.

While waiting, Pequod stood from his seat to stretch after sitting down for a long time while Venom and Quiet remained sitting next to each other.

"Hey, I have a water canteen with me in case you guys want it. You were in the desert for who knows how long, after all." Pequod said and took out his canteen and handed it to them.

Quiet's eyes lit up and she took it. Although water killed her for a few seconds back there, she still needed it to survive.

She opened the canteen and was about to pour its contents on herself when she stopped suddenly and looked at Venom. She handed the canteen to him, believing he should have it.

"No thanks. You need it more than I do. I can wait until we return to base." Venom declined.

Quiet smiled in thankfulness and raised the canteen over her own head to pour the contents on herself.

Water poured all over her head and body. The instant it touched her skin, the parasites in her started to feed on the liquid.

Quiet closed her eyes and let the water drip all over her and her parasites do their job.

She only used half of the canteen and handed the leftover water to Venom. He took it and drank it until it was empty.

As soon as he finished, Venom gave it back to the pilot and returned to her side.

"I was informed by Code Talker that you're a speaker of Navajo and it's the only language your parasite has no effect on. Right?" Venom asked her.

Quiet nodded.

"While flying to find you, he said, on my comm link, that you spoke to him in Navajo. Aside from the English strain, he said that you refused to take his treatment because of a personal reason." he said.

Quiet nodded, while regretting bypassing the treatment for the reason she now discarded, and said something to him in Navajo.

"What the-? I didn't know she can be so talkative!" Pequod said.

"Me neither." said a soldier.

"It's Navajo, a Native American language. Her vocal parasite doesn't work with that language, so it's safe for her to use unlike English." Venom told him to keep him and the soldiers from freaking out.

"Navajo? As in the language that kept the Japanese military from deciphering American codes during World War II?" asked a soldier.

"Yes." said Venom.

"Any idea what she said, Boss?" asked another soldier.

"Not a clue, but Code Talker should." Venom said and radioed Code Talker.

"It's me." Venom said.

"Did you find the woman?" Code Talker asked.

"Yes. She's with me in the helicopter. We're waiting for a sand storm to end so we can fly away safely." he said.

"Excellent work." he said.

"I'm also calling because she said something in Navajo just now and I was wondering if you can translate for me." said Venom.

"Certainly. Ask her to repeat what she said into the radio for me." said the old man.

"Here." Venom said to Quiet and leaned the iDroid close to her.

She leaned close to the device and repeated her words into the radio for Code Talker to hear and he translated.

"She says 'Until my English is safe to use, this is the only language that I can speak safely. Before, I still craved vengeance against you, but now I wish for that no more. It has proven to be troublesome. You have been a good friend to me ever since you welcomed me among your people and I wish to stand by you for the rest of my days.' She is expressing how she feels about you. It seems that spending time with you has changed her from the cold-hearted person I have been told of." he said.

"Thanks for the translation." said Venom.

"Will that be all?" he asked.

"For now. I'll only call if she speaks in Navajo again." said Venom.

"Very well. I think I am going to have another one of those hamburger meals Mr. Miller introduced me to before. I find them to be very delicious." said Code Talker.

"There's plenty in the mess hall. Help yourself." said Venom and turned his radio off.

To pass the time while waiting to fly, Venom played, in his cassette player, music from tapes he requested from some of his soldiers from Mother Base. His tapes usually contained mostly music from the 1950's, 1960's and early 1970's as they were the tunes he was raised around in his younger years.

Music from the current era was still new to him.

Back on Mother Base, his soldiers often played or sang to music called "heavy metal" from today's popular artists such as Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax, Iron Maiden, Angel Witch, Sodom, Kreator, Motorhead, Judas Priest, Exodus, Diamond Head, Ozzy Osbourne, The Sex Pistols, Def Leppard, Motley Crue, King Diamond, Venom (the band), The Ramones, Black Sabbath, KISS, Blue Oyster Cult, Deep Purple, The Scorpions, AC/DC. There was so much new stuff out there and he could barely keep up with it all.

The music scene of today was all topsy-turvy to him now. Most people these days did not want music about hippies, peace and love that Venom was used to, not that he had time to listen to any of that before anyway. No, today's music was all about violence and rebellion. People craved loud, fast and heavy music that spoke of war, death, destruction, doom, religion, horror, hell, Satanism, sex, partying, crime, just about all kinds of violent topics expressed in real life. And Venom thought the things he experienced on the battlefield every day was hell. Now it's expressed in modern rock music. Even though he found the music confusing, he still stashed some of those songs with him anyway to sample them when on breaks. Not to be cool, just out of interest.

So far, he slowly grew fond of this new music. In fact, what he was playing in his cassette player was one of those tape his troops was so fond of.

Not wanting to listen alone, Venom made it so that the cassette player would blare the music through its speakers. He was careful not to play it too loud to avoid attracting any unwanted attention from outside the chopper.

"Now that's what I'm talking about, Boss!" one soldier said and he and the others bobbed their heads to the beat of the song.

Quiet liked it, too. She loved rock music, but she never let anyone, Diamond Dogs or especially XOF, know that. Not even Skull Face knew when she used to work for him. But the songs she listened to spoke of killing and causing chaos, which was kinda what her old group was trained to do.

She silently requested a song of her own and Venom allowed Quiet to flip through his collection until she came across a title that interested her and Venom played it for her.

She had never heard this new song before and she liked how it sounded.

During the song, Quiet slowly bobbed her head to the music with a grin on her lips.

The sniper that tried to kill Venom before would never had done this. She had changed a great deal.

The sandstorm outside was starting to decline as the winds were blowing less every passing minute and soon, the storm ceased altogether and the area was clear. The passengers can see everything outside again.

"Finally." said Venom. There were no hostiles anywhere in the desert. It was safe to fly now.

"Okay people. Get ready." said Pequod.

Venom, Quiet and the two soldiers strapped themselves to their seats and Pequod got back to his seat and started up the engine.

The helicopter roared to life and the blades above began to rotate and pick up speed until they were a blur.

"Departing!" Pequod said and off they went.

"Hey Pequod, one more thing. Head back to the palace ruins. There's something we need to retrieve before we fly back to Mother Base. It'll be quick." said Venom.

"Alright Boss." he said and flew the chopper back to Lamar Khaate Palace.

Quiet was confused as to why he wanted to venture back to where they just escaped from.

Venom turned to her and said, "You lost your rifle there. I figured you'd want it back, right?" he said.

Quiet, now knowing why he ordered the pilot to fly them back to the palace ruins, hummed in approval.

The chopper made it back to Lamar Palace and Venom opened the door when they inched closer to the ground.

"Man, what the hell happened here?" asked one of the soldiers in the helicopter when he and the other one saw how the palace looked.

"Quiet and I had a massive firefight against the Soviets. We won." said Venom.

"Only you and Quiet versus dozens of Soviets? Damn, Boss!" said the same soldier.

Quiet leaped out of the helicopter and scouted around for her sniper rifle. They had more rifles back at Mother Base, but the one she used was her signature one and Venom Snake had it built especially for her. Leaving it behind didn't feel right to her. It was a gift from him.

The Soviet soldier she shot with the rifle after killing the other soldiers was the same man who stole it from her upon her capture. Killing him like that was personal for her. Karma really was a bitch as most people say.

 ** _There you are!_ **She thought when she found her rifle. It was seen near a bunch a rocks on a hill behind the palace. Quiet assumed it would be where she dropped it after she and Venom Snake survived the invasion, but she then realized, upon remembering the tank blast at the end, that her weapon must have been blown back afterwards.

She picked it up, examined it for damages or defects, finding only little scratches and dirt, and returned to the helicopter.

While walking, she eyed that container that she drowned in by that bastard soldier. Her butterfly markings appeared over her eyes from remembering that moment. The moment she died, everything went black until the sun touched her bare legs. The water inside was now dirty and murky due to the sandstorm earlier.

 ** _I never want to return to this place ever again._** She thought and kept walking, forcing her markings to vanish to keep Venom Snake from worrying.

"Found it?" Venom asked.

Quiet showed her rifle to him before jumping back in and taking her seat next to Venom Snake again. She placed its safety switch on to avoid accidental fire, but kept it loaded and by her side in case they encountered another fighter jet like the one she shot down when Venom Snake first captured her.

"Okay Pequod, that's all. Now you can fly us back to base." said Venom after closing the door and sitting next to Quiet.

"Okay, Boss. Departing." said the pilot.

The desert land below them started to shrink as they ascended higher and higher until they were in the air, flying out of Afghanistan.

In his mind, Venom was congratulating himself for his accomplishments here. He found Quiet, saved her from the Soviets who tried to rape and kill her, fended off a Blitzkrieg-style assault alongside her, survived a sandstorm and leftover Soviets hunting for them, avoided becoming snake food (no pun intended) and escaped with their lives intact just now.

The woman he cared for deeply was recovered safe and sound and back with him. He hoped she would not run off again in the future. Quiet was his means of maintaining his mental humanity aside from D.D. He used to never think of anything or anyone but himself in the past. It was always about the mission and returning safely with success and with dead bodies of enemy soldiers in his wake. He was a lone wolf and he felt that was all he would ever be for the rest of his days and killing soldiers and doing missions was his way of numbing his inner pain of being lonely.

Until he met the beautiful sniper woman sitting in the helicopter with him. That helped change his behavior. Well, not all, but somewhat better.

If those Soviets had killed her back there, he would be back to how he was before they met: alone, unhappy and void of purpose other than trading blood for money or something else.

Not anymore.

Sure, there were many female Diamond Dogs troops at Mother Base and they admired him and all, but he saw them as soldiers only and nothing else. Besides, none of them could ever compare to Quiet. She was one of a kind, like a rare treasure item or a baseball card that was difficult to find, and it's not because of her parasite abilities. Even if there was a possibility that she could never be relieved of her English strain and can never tell him anything in that language, he didn't care. Her being alive and back with him was all he desired, silent or not. He had a new purpose in life that kept him going and that was her. When they got back, he would tell her of how he feels for her because he knew she felt the same of him.

He guessed that Miller would remain his usual, jerky self toward Quiet in spite of her helping Venom survive the Soviet assault when they made it back to the base. Nevertheless, despite her defection to their faction, he still gave her a hard time at the base, especially on the night she was interrogated by them after they found out that she was the one who tried to kill him at the hospital and that Skull Face infected her with her English parasite.

Venom remembered that and began to regret her treatment, especially since he allowed it to take place. He watched Quiet be zapped and drenched with burning saltwater until Ocelot poured his canteen of fresh water on her to wash it away.

Venom and Ocelot, despite them taking part of the interrogation as it was kinda protocol for suspicious people on the base, disliked what happened while Miller relished it to the fullest like a sadistic tyrant. Quiet is a former Cipher agent. He hated them with a strong passion. What did others expect from him, a victim of them? He felt no remorse for Quiet's abuse while Venom did as Quiet proved her worth among the unit. He didn't know if Ocelot regretted it too, but his behavior at the end indicated some pity from the revolver-wielding man otherwise he wouldn't have washed the saltwater off of her.

 ** _How could I let that happen to her? She faced torture and abuse by us and me, the person she admired, and yet she still stands by me, by us. Perhaps I'm no better than Skull Face. He'd probably laugh at our treatment of her if he saw it. For all I know, he probably also subjected her to a similar method to perhaps break her into what she used to be when we met. I've heard of civilizations that did that and still do today. Or perhaps she had a rough childhood that shaped her into the killer I saw her as._** Venom thought upon that memory.

He personally vowed to never allow Quiet to be tortured like that ever again. Anyone who harmed this woman, even Miller, would get what he or she deserved from him. Quiet was his responsibility and messing with her would be a bad idea.

Skull Face was a madman, but he "introduced" her to him. He just wished their meeting was different and less violent than previously.

"So, will you stay with us again and permanently this time?" Venom asked.

Quiet nodded.

 ** _Of course I will. I will never leave you again, Snake. Leaving your base was a stupid decision of me to make._** She thought. At least her thoughts didn't activate her parasites. If only he were a mind reader, then communication would be easier that way.

They stayed sitting together for the remainder of the flight back. After all that transpired, Quiet decided to nap throughout the whole ride, leaning on Venom's shoulder, her personal hero.

Nobody and nothing can ever separate them again.

"Pequod, when we get back, take us to the medical facility. I want to have Quiet inspected for serious problems. She went through a lot and I'm worried about her health more than my own." said Venom.

"Okay Boss." said the pilot.

* * *

The helicopter eventually reached Mother Base's medical platform and Venom looked at the window and saw most of his soldiers crowding around on the helipad to support his return.

It seemed Pequod made a call to the base telling them about where they would be landing.

Venom wondered if they were also willing to welcome Quiet back with open arms this time. If so, the only person who would not do such a thing was Miller, unless he manipulated everyone else to treat her the way he does. He would find out later.

The helicopter landed and he stepped out first.

"Welcome back, Boss. Did you, you know, find her?" Ocelot asked.

"I did." said Venom. He went back into the chopper and approached the sleeping sniper.

"Quiet. Quiet, wake up." he said while gently tapping her.

Quiet's eyes fluttered open and she saw blurriness until her vision cleared quickly and when it did, she was looking at Venom Snake..

"We're back. You can get out now." he said while gently patting her shoulder.

Quiet yawned, stretched, stood up and walked out of the helicopter.

She saw most of the base's personnel staring at her.

"Welcome back, Quiet. You alright?" Ocelot said to her.

Quiet nodded in thanks for his welcome, but still remained wary of him because of him being part of her interrogation before.

The soldiers murmured to one another about her. Most of it was about how their leader found her and brought her back in one piece.

Quiet walked toward the Diamond Dogs soldiers. Venom, Ocelot and Pequod wondered what their reactions would be to her presence.

Soon, the others were chatting with Quiet, expressing gratitude and apologies for the harsh treatment she endured from some of them and she mentally forgave them all.

"Well, she's a popular figure around here now." Ocelot said.

"She's like a celebrity figure to us here, huh Boss?" said the chopper pilot.

"Well, she may be well-liked to all here now, there's one person around here who still spites her unfortunately." Venom said.

"We'll get to him later. Let's just cherish the moment we have now. Skull Face is dead. You rescued one of our most powerful members and prevented a parasitic apocalypse from happening." Ocelot said.

After spending time with the soldiers, Venom remembered something he needed to take care of.

"Quiet, follow me." he said.

Quiet turned to look at him and followed him to the medical buildings.

Venom and Quiet found the room they sought and entered.

Miller suddenly made an appearance from out of nowhere, but Venom and Quiet did not see him.

"He's back?" Miller asked.

"Yes." said Ocelot.

"With her?" Miller asked.

"Yes. They saved each other from the Soviet armies and he's off to get her medical attention." Ocelot said.

For a while Miller was silent. He was in deep thought. Did he still resent Quiet or did he change his view of her? He hated Quiet to the fullest, but after hearing that she helped the Boss survive a Soviet invasion, he didn't know what to think now.

The soldiers disbanded, off to do whatever they were doing and left Ocelot and Miller by themselves.

"Miller, do you still resent Quiet? Even after the good she's done for the Boss and for us? She's proven that she's no longer against Diamond Dogs or him." Ocelot asked him.

Miller didn't respond and kept glaring at the ocean beyond the platforms. What was going through his mind?

"Miller?" Ocelot asked in concern.

Without saying a word, Miller walked away from the helipad. Even Ocelot couldn't tell what was on his mind.

"Sometimes I don't get you these days, Miller." Ocelot whispered to himself as he walked away from the helipad.

* * *

Venom and Quiet made it inside the facilities and Venom told the staff there to give medical examinations for Quiet and himself after informing them of what happened out there. The medical personnel agreed to examine them and the Diamond Dogs leader and the silent sniper followed them into the med bay.

First was Quiet. She was given the regular medical checkup. They examined her. They drew some blood, gave her a full body scan, (her parasite still showed on the screens, but the doctors didn't freak out like last time) and within half an hour, she was released and in came Venom Snake next.

Both had passed their exams and, rather than return to her cell, Quiet was allowed, by Venom himself, to join him in his private quarters for the moment.

Quiet, upon entering, sat down on his bed while Venom was busy showering away whatever dirt, grime and blood he collected from the battle and the sandstorm after.

When Venom was finished, he exited the shower room, clean and was wearing regular clothing. His sneaking suit needed to be cleaned thoroughly. He also shaved his facial hair off, revealing a clean look. He figured that now was the time to get rid of his beard and mustache. He liked it better.

"Okay Quiet, you're next." he said.

He noticed Quiet didn't move and felt something was wrong with her as her face showed an expression of sorrow.

"Something wrong? Oh, that's right. It's going to take time for the shower water to be hot again." he asked.

That was not the reason for Quiet's mood.

Quiet turned her face away in shame. Venom suddenly had a hunch of what it was.

Feeling the need to comfort her, he sat next to her, placed a hand on her face and turned it to him and the woman was now looking at him, wondering what he was going to say to her.

"Quiet. You ran off because you feared causing a third parasitic outbreak after what happened with the second one, didn't you?" he asked her.

She nodded.

"Do you blame yourself for it?" he asked.

She nodded sadly.

"You can never be the cause of another one as long as you remain silent or if we remove your parasite. Besides, in case you weren't here when we found out the cause afterwards, the second outbreak was because of Huey Emmerich." he explained.

Quiet remembered that man with the bionic legs. The one who built customized Walker Gears for Venom to use as a counterpart to the ones the enemy troops used.

 ** _What?_**

She was already gone by the time the entire base staff learned what Huey had done and missed his trial, therefore, she was not fully aware of the whole story.

Venom told Quiet about what happened and what Huey did to cause the outbreak along with other things he did before his arrival on Mother Base and she put a hand to her mouth in shock from hearing it all.

 _ **That's horrible! How could that man, the one whom Snake saved from Skull Face, mutate the strain even further and cause so many deaths? That sounds like something Skull Face would have done!** _She thought in disgust before realizing something else.

 ** _I was like him and he was me. He did to this base what I was originally meant to do. The only difference is that Skull Face ordered me to kill the Boss's people, which I refused and still do, while Huey achieved it on his own without orders from anybody. I regret wanting to kill these people with my parasite while he never did._**

"After the second outbreak ended and his experiments with the parasites became knowledgeable all over Mother Base, we put him on trial for his deeds. He defended himself, saying it wasn't his fault and he even went so far as to blame me for the deaths of my soldiers despite him tinkering with the parasites willingly." said Venom.

Quiet's signature "butterfly" marking appeared over her eyes, expressing her anger at Huey Emmerich.

 ** _That deluded bastard killed those poor people and he dared to have the gall of blaming Snake for putting down the very victims Emmerich himself infected?! I should hurt him for this!_** She thought.

She wasn't also aware that Huey was banished from Diamond Dogs until Venom then told her of Huey's fate for his extreme act of betrayal.

 ** _He's gone?_**

Quiet's markings faded, but her anger toward the disgraced scientist remained. Someone who committed such a tragedy like he did was deserving of a harsh punishment or a death sentence. But he spared Huey and kicked him out of the group despite what he did. Quiet believed it was because of how Venom defended her after the outbreak when she was tortured. Despite her being a carrier, he still refused to have her executed or banished. She hated that painful moment, but she didn't blame Venom for it. It was out of reaction from discovering her identity as his former would-be killer and from having lost so many comrades at the hands of enemies like XOF. Who doesn't respond like that after enduring a grave tragedy?

"He's gone and no further outbreaks can happen here. Well, as long as you don't speak or someone else doesn't experiment with your . . . uh, problem." he said, trying to avoid offending or scaring her due to her own parasite in her throat.

Quiet placed her hand to her neck, knowing what he meant.

 ** _I now wish I never accepted this damned strain in my throat at all so that I can currently express my feelings to him. That chance almost died with me back there and I cannot risk almost losing it again._**

"By the way, what happened back there with the Soviet soldiers? I saw you kill them, but I didn't see what they were doing to provoke you to take such violent action like that." he asked.

Quiet was unsure if she could "tell" him. What happened to her at the palace was horrible and traumatizing despite all the violent encounters she faced most of the time. But she felt he deserved to know after he risked himself for her and she grabbed a notepad, a pen, wrote what happened and gave it to him.

She remembered Ocelot trying to get her to communicate through writing only for her to refuse it to hide her then-secret objective. Until she was cured of her English strain, this was her only way to fully "speak" to the Boss or anyone. Her Navajo was limited. For now, it'd be for him only.

Venom read it and became angry when he finished.

No wonder she butchered them all like that. All the pent-up rage she built up during her stay on Mother Base, she released on those men when she had enough of them and, to her, it finally felt good. They deserved it for how they treated her, especially that man who tried to rape her after she died for a few seconds. At least she had the perfect targets to channel it all on instead of Venom Snake or his troops.

Quiet approached him, stared into his eyes as he did with hers, and then she hugged him.

Venom, stunned at first, placed one arm around her back for comfort.

During this moment, Venom could have sworn he was hearing light sobbing sounds coming from Quiet.

She was crying and he realized that her soft crying was from more guilt and not from the Soviet battle hours ago. She may have earned Venom's respect and friendship, but, to her, all the horrible things she did as an assassin remained in her memory.

After a while of crying, Venom gently lifted her away and saw her tear-stained face. Her tears stung her face as they were salty, giving her weakness from saltwater., but she didn't seem to care about that. She really felt bad about her past and all she helped slay.

She wrote another message for him on paper and he read it.

 _All the people I killed for XOF . . . for Skull Face! I did such evil things without remorse! That doctor, that nurse, they treated you when you were ill and defenseless and I murdered them both, slowly and painfully with glee! And I almost did the same thing to you! I almost murdered a defenseless man who woke from a decade-long coma and was unable to properly defend himself! I am a horrible person! A freak!_

He rubbed her back to sooth her as she kept weeping.

"Quiet, I know you feel bad for your past as a killer. But you're not that person anymore. Well, you still kill, but only against those who do wrong to others rather than against innocent people and only when it has to be done for survival. As awful as your past was and what you almost did to me, I have nothing against you for it now. The time we spent together changed you for the better and my view of you. It allowed me to see this virtuous side of you and . . . well, you mean everything to me now and I don't give a crap about what Miller or anyone else thinks of you. You are not a horrible person or a freak." he said.

Quiet wasn't fully convinced. She couldn't stop thinking about her victims. She claimed them all for an evil man and it was now hitting her back at full force. And yet one of her former victims was here comforting her, wanting her to stay with him despite knowing what she was capable of doing.

"What Ocelot said of you being 'in love with the Legend' a few days ago, did he mean you were attracted to my status or did he mean you were actually in love with me?"

Quiet took another paper, picked up the same pen and started writing and when she finished, she handed the paper to him and he read it.

It said:

 _Before I give my answer, there are some things I need to make clear with you first._

 _First: I am utterly horrified at how the second outbreak happened and I feel awful for almost getting us killed all because I thought myself to be a great risk of starting another one even if I was silent. I no longer feel that now that I am aware that the true fault lies within Dr. Emmerich._

 _Second: I still feel bad because, like I said, before we met, I killed, regardless of whether my targets were guilty or innocent. I still murdered them, even those who were helpless to defend themselves. Those people I slaughtered at the hospital. Me nearly shooting you and choking you to death. Our battle at those ruins. All of that I had done in the name of XOF, Cipher. I stole the futures of many victims out of blind loyalty to an organization with no care for anyone but themselves._

 _Third: I do not ever wish to return to the life I used to live by. I am happy that you do not see me as a murdering monster anymore. But truthfully, there is not a day that goes by where my past activities do not haunt me because they do now and I can never drown them out no matter what._

Quiet picked up another piece of paper upon running out of room to write and wrote another message and gave it to him to read.

 _Back there, you came for me, fought to keep me safe from those people when I escaped the base as a self-punishment. You could have ignored me and left me to die or be violated by them after you learned who I was and what I was capable of doing, but you refused and came to my aid anyway even when I never asked for it in the first place. That is something nobody has ever done for me before, even when I was with XOF. To them, you were responsible for yourself and if you were captured, no rescue would come. You were on your own._

 _When I was being interrogated, Miller was right about my vocal parasite. Skull Face_ did _implant the English strain in me as his means of killing you. He tasked me with letting myself be captured and brought to your base on purpose in order to destroy you all from the inside. I was going to unleash it when you least expected it and fulfill my mission regardless of my own life as it is suicidal to the host, but the kindness and equality you expressed to me, which I myself did not expect from you, made me reconsider and I am now glad I did not proceed. My original goal was a terrible mistake, the two outbreaks made me regret my plans and I refuse to infect and kill anyone aboard this base anymore in the future. I could have easily escaped the interrogation and incapacitate you all, but I remained and took the torture as my way of proving my loyalty to you and your unit even if most of them were unaccepting of me._

 _Before, I was seen as a heartless killer, trained to kill without hesitation, but you saw something good in me. You took me into your army and changed me for the better. How you treated me and coming to my rescue back there were the sweetest things anyone has ever done for me._

 _And last, but not least, as to the answer for your question . . ._

Quiet put her materials down, leaned over and gave him a kiss to his neck. It was not only her way of thanking Venom Snake for his kindness and for saving her, but also her way of apologizing for her killing attempt on him at the hospital months ago. Attacking him like that was very barbaric and she hated herself for that now.

Although being roasted alive was incredibly painful back then, Quiet knew she deserved it then and a part of her was glad it happened otherwise standing in front of the man she loved would not be happening right now. If the bandaged man were here, she would also thank him for being responsible for that, for stopping her from making a grave error of killing her future lover.

Quiet retracted herself from him and gave him a friendly smile.

"It's hard to believe that the silent sniper woman standing in front of me, who tried to kill me twice before, now winds up loving her former target. Our two meetings may have gone off on the wrong foot, but in a way, I'm actually glad we met, I just wish it happened differently. You are my whole world Quiet and I don't ever want to lose you." he said and placed his hands on her shoulders gently.

Venom then remembered her torture session again and needed to say something about it.

"Sorry about the torture session you endured. Believe me, that was Miller's intention, not mine. He strongly insisted it after his discovery of your injuries from that gas tank incident and I simply went along with it without thinking clearly. I feel stupid for not stopping it earlier." he said.

Quiet remembered that day too. It was agonizing, but she refused to be angry at Venom Snake for that.

 ** _I do not care about that. I can never hate you for it._** She thought and jotted this down on the notepad again.

"Do you hate me for what happened to you at the hospital when that bandaged man set you on fire?" he asked.

Quiet shook her head, telling him that she was not angry at him for that and wrote another message.

 _You and him were simply defending yourselves from me and, as painful as it was, I deserved it. It's a good thing you two stopped me from succeeding otherwise we would not be here right now, enjoying each other's company. I am so, very sorry for trying to kill you. Can you forgive me for that?_

Venom placed both hands, real and bionic, over Quiet's face and planted a gentle kiss on her lips.

Quiet's eyes widened in stunned shock, but she closed her eyes and embraced it. She was getting what she wanted from him ever since falling for him.

"I already have, Quiet." he said in response to her question.

Quiet wrapped her arms around his neck and back and kissed him back.

He then removed his glove and placed his bare hand on Quiet's side, feeling her skin for the first time. Her choking him at the hospital was different and, to him, didn't count. Besides, she was wearing gloves back then, so he didn't actually feel her hands.

She had really smooth skin.

Quiet let out a tiny giggle from the touch and looked at the hand and then removed her own gloves and placed her hand over his, placing her hand to his chest, enjoying the moment.

Quiet looked at the bite wound on his arm caused by that wild cobra and pointed at it.

 ** _Will you be alright?_**

"Don't worry about that. It'll fade. I took it for you. Can your parasites actually protect and heal you from being poisoned?" he said.

Quiet nodded. If that cobra had poisoned her, she would have survived. But she was still touched that Venom Snake took the metaphorical bullet for her and risked dying from it, further proving his respect and love for her.

Quiet removed all of her gear from her form, leaving her in nothing but her bra and panties. She also took her ponytail off which freed her hair. and it slid down to her shoulders. Venom Snake remembered seeing her hair like that before, but this time, he embraced it happily, reminding himself that the female assassin from the hospital was gone and was replaced by this stunning beauty in his private room.

"Uh, you might want to shower first, Quiet. You're still kinda dirty from the sandstorm, remember?" Venom said.

Quiet, looking herself all over, realized it and felt lightly embarrassed.

 ** _He's right! I need to get clean, too. I wish he hadn't showered first, so that I could repeat our previous showering with him._**

She walked into Venom Snake's bathroom, turned on the shower and stepped inside. She left the door open intentionally for him as a joke in case he wanted to enter and "check on her".

After a few minutes, Quiet was finished. She turned the water off, dried herself and re-entered the room where she found Snake listening to a tape on his iDroid device.

He had his back turned to her and had headphones over his ears, so he didn't see or hear her coming in.

A playful smirk forming on her lips, Quiet turned invisible and slowly crept up to him. When she got close enough, she flicked her hand at his hair.

"What the hell?!" he yelped and quickly turned around.

Quiet revealed herself and giggled from his reaction.

 _ **Got you!**_

"Oh, so that's how you want it, huh? Well, get ready for this!" he said and grabbed her and flipped her over onto his bed and sat on top of her.

Quiet smiled and feigned being under attack and soon, the two began to make love and Quiet loved every second of it. She loved her new life as a heroine sniper a lot better than her old one. She loved the feel of fighting for good. She loved being accepted by someone who chose to forgive her for her past and murder attempt on him and, most of all, right now she loved feeling Venom Snake's hands, both real and prosthetic, on her body.

Unlike with the Soviet soldiers who tried to rape her, Quiet enjoyed being touched and kissed by the leader of Diamond Dogs. He was not cruel to her like they were.

The Diamond Dogs were her team now. Venom Snake was the new love of her life. She was now a heroine soldier rather than a ruthless killer.

 ** _To hell with XOF! Diamond Dogs forever!_** she thought.

They started out with slow, passionate kissing. Then Quiet laid down on the bed and Venom sat on top of her, rubbing her sides which she liked.

Quiet got an idea and pointed to the knot on her bra.

 ** _Open it._** She thought with a smile.

"You want me to undress you? Won't that remind you of . . . what happened back at the palace?" he asked nervously.

Quiet shook her head and spread her arms apart and over her head, allowing herself to be vulnerable to whatever he wanted to do with her.

 _ **Touch me however you wish! I am yours!**_

Venom complied, untied her bra knot and slowly opened it, revealing her bare chest.

It was the most beautiful part of her body that he had ever seen and this was his first time seeing it. He was a lucky man.

He playfully rubbed his hand over her exposed chest, sliding his fingers between her breasts, feeling where her heart and lungs once were.

Quiet closed her eyes and let herself embrace the feeling.

 ** _That feels good!_**

After a minute of rubbing her chest, Venom placed his hands over her breasts, covering her nipples.

Quiet kept her eyes closed and enjoyed being touched.

He then rubbed his thumbs over her nipples several times, massaging them, much to Quiet's incredible pleasure.

 ** _Keep going! I am loving this!_**

He leaned forward and planted a kiss on each nipple and the middle of her chest.

 ** _Don't stop!_**

Venom Snake then gave her a light tickle on the underside of her breasts, making her giggle again.

 ** _That tickles!_**

Later, he did the same for her nipples.

 ** _How wonderful! Keep going!_**

The rubbing continued. Venom was starting to enjoy this as much as she did.

He gently rubbed his fingers across her armpits, earning more light giggling from her.

 _ **I forgot how ticklish I am!**_

He then massaged her throat, the spot that contained her vocal parasite. The touch relaxed her.

 ** _Once my bothersome vocal parasite is gone, my first words in English will be my admission of my love for you!_**

Venom then went for Quiet's bare belly. He rubbed her sides and stomach, making Quiet smile again.

He led his hands to her legs, starting with her thighs.

 ** _Ahhh, that's it! More!_**

Soon, the sex stopped and both people were spent.

 _ **That . . . was wonderful!** _Quiet thought with a smile.

"You enjoyed that?" he asked her.

Quiet nodded and kissed him again.

"By the way, what's that tune you always seem to hum? Is it a song you heard where you came from or was it something you made up?" he asked.

Quiet grabbed the pen and paper again, wrote her response and handed it over to him.

 _It is a song that my parents used to sing to me when I was a little girl. It soothed me and it stayed in my head for years to come. Unfortunately, they were gunned down by enemy raiders when I was a teenager and I barely escaped alive. One soldier, however, found me and tried to hurt me. I retaliated blindly, killing him slowly. That and the deaths of my family angered me to the point where I discovered XOF and joined them as a means to vent my rage to everyone._

 _But, as I said earlier, I am not that kind of person anymore thanks to you, Snake._

"I'm so sorry about what happened to you then. You shouldn't have gone through something like that. Do you still miss them?" he said and asked.

 _Every day. My ability to express kindness and love to anyone died when my family did and it remained that way for years until we met. You brought that lightness back to me._ She wrote.

Venom Snake kissed her cheek as a means of expressing his condolences to her dead relatives.

"Any word on what happened to the killers of your family?" he asked.

 _I found out that they all succumbed to gunfire from their enemies while their leader, whose name I do not know, shot himself later upon learning he was infected with inoperable cancer. I despise the idea of someone getting cancer and dying from it, but in my case, after what those men did to me and my home, justice was finally done and they each got what they deserved._

Venom kinda agreed with her on that. He didn't remember his own family, but he was still able to pity this woman who's tragic past was what made her vicious as an adult until now.

"Well, it's getting late. We should get some sleep." he said.

Quiet nodded and was prepared to dress herself and return to her cell in the Med platform until she was stopped by him.

"Not tonight, or ever. From now on, my room is yours. I think you've been cooped up in that cell long enough and deserve to move in with me. You've earned your place at my side." he informed her.

She expressed feelings of happiness at that. Venom Snake had finally trusted her enough to allow her to sleep with him in the same room.

"Will you stay here?" he asked.

Quiet nodded and returned to the bed with him.

Venom removed his prosthetic arm and placed it on the table next to his side.

"If you're wondering why I have a bionic arm, it's because I lost my real arm in an attack on our previous base nine years ago. The doctors had to amputate it to keep me alive. I went into shock upon that discovery at first when I woke up from my coma, but now, I've learned to live with it." he told her.

She grabbed his amputated limb close to herself and gently kissed the stump, expressing both her sorrow over the loss of his arm and not caring what he looked like.

"Good night, Quiet." he said and kissed her one more time.

Quiet giggled.

 ** _You too, you wonderful man!_** Quiet thought and kissed him back and snuggled herself closer to him, burying her head into his chest as he wrapped his arms around her.

Quiet usually slept alone during her XOF days and when she first came to Mother Base. Now she was sleeping with someone and it was the man she loved so much.

As they say, "Love can bloom even on the battlefield."

Quiet proceeded to hum her tune to soothe herself and him.

"I think I just found my new favorite song. If I were a musician, I'd love to have that recorded." Venom said.

Quiet appreciated that.

 _ **Glad to know you love my song. It would make a great hit, wouldn't it?**_

"Are there lyrics to it?" he asked.

Quiet hummed a "Yes" answer and wanted to write it for him later.

"Tomorrow, we'll visit Code Talker about removing your parasite from your throat. I want to hear your voice again, this time on good terms." he said, remembering hearing her speak into her headset back at the hospital. That was then and this was now.

 ** _Good._**

Soon, both lovers were asleep.

* * *

 **After finishing the game, I chose to take on a fic about Metal Gear and lo-and-behold, here it was. I had to do some research to get as much as I could right.**

 **This is but the first chapter. There will be a couple more and the next chapter will have Quiet seeing and undergoing treatment for her parasite problem.**

 **I hope I do well here. Tell me what you think.**

 **PS: The horizontal line option of this site malfunctions sometimes. Anyone go through the same thing?**


	2. Chapter 2

**Here's the second chapter. Here, Quiet will see about curing herself. Will it work? Can Code Talker actually still perform the procedure?**

* * *

The sun rose. All Diamond Dogs personnel who worked the night shift called it a night (or day in this case) and were retreating to their sleeping quarters while those who already slept during the night were getting up and getting ready to take on the day shift.

Inside his private room, Venom Snake was sleeping. The events from yesterday had really worn him out. Even Quiet was exhausted completely afterward, powers or not.

Because Quiet was unable to be covered, Snake slept the entire night without a blanket, willing to share the "bareness" with her.

The alarm clock went off, waking him first.

He got up, got out of bed and looked at the clock.

The clock said 9:00 a.m.

After rubbing the sleep from his eye, Venom Snake noticed Quiet's absence. At first, he thought she left Mother Base again, but realized how stupid it sounded because Quiet, after their "adventure" the other day, would never be foolish enough to repeat that. Also, her gear and weapons were next to the bed, meaning she was still here.

"Where did she-?" he asked before stopping upon seeing a letter on the table next to where he last saw her.

He picked it up and read it.

 _I have not left the base again in case you are thinking that. I am merely collecting my sunlight intake alone somewhere on a rooftop. I have my radio with me so you can contact me when you are awake. I left my weapons and equipment with you as a means of goodwill to ensure you that I have no intent of attacking any of your men again after what happened last time._

"Okay." Venom said softly to himself and attached his bionic arm and went to getting dressed.

When he finished, he was dressed in different attire instead of the usual combat suit he wore during cases.

He grabbed his iDroid and stepped outside.

"Quiet, you there?" he said into it.

He heard a short static and a soft hum, indicating she was active as she said.

"I'm up and I'm standing outside my room, waiting for you." he said and she hummed again and the radio ceased.

Venom waited, looking out at the sea, then at the base to pass the time. He couldn't believe that he had built this massive base in a matter of months after waking from that coma.

He then heard a sound that was all too familiar to him. It was Quiet's movement and she was approaching fast and in seconds, he saw dust kick up in front of him.

She was here and she deactivated her camouflage in front of him.

 ** _He looks nice without his facial hair. It made kissing easier for me last night._**

"Morning Quiet." he said and she kissed him.

 ** _Still easy._**

"How long were you sunbathing?" he asked.

Quiet held up eight fingers and made two zeroes afterward, telling him that she had been up since 8 o'clock, one hour before Venom Snake awoke.

"You all done now?" he asked.

She nodded.

"Good. Let me just go grab a bite to eat at the mess hall and then we'll go to Code Talker to see about getting rid of your voice parasite afterward." he said to her.

Quiet agreed, though she could not actually eat anything due to her stomach and intestines being gone from her immolation.

Venom remembered his knowledge about Quiet's biology and realized this might be unsettling for her.

"You miss eating regular foods, don't you?" he asked her as they walked. He felt partly guilty for being the reason she was the way she was today, even if that was technically the bandaged man's doing and she did admit that she deserved it for her invasion. It still felt wrong to him regardless of how she saw it. As she stated, the bandaged man and Skull Face both played a part in her current status.

She nodded. She admitted to herself that she missed the taste of her favorite meals. Even if in liquid form, her parasites would still reject it as she tried that once back at XOF. Another downside of having her abilities. She was now at peace with it.

"Can you drink anything through your skin besides water or no?" he asked.

She shook her head. Water was her only consumable and always will be.

"Oh. Well, would you like to wait for me somewhere else to avoid temptation? I don't feel right about bring" he asked.

Quiet shook her head. She preferred to go with him, not minding being around food items that she could not eat.

"So . . . about last night . . . does this mean we are a couple now?" he asked, knowing the answer but wanting to "hear" it from her.

She nodded and placed her arm around his to show her full acceptance of being his girlfriend.

"Have you ever had a relationship with anyone before besides me or am I the only one?" he asked.

Quiet shook her head at the first question and nodded at the second.

Before and during her time with XOF, she had no interest in a relationship with anyone. Completing her assassination jobs and earning the respect of XOF and Skull Face were all she thought about and she pursued them to the fullest. That all changed the day she met the man she was walking alongside with. He was her first love and she wanted it to stay that way for the foreseeable future. He gave her a new purpose in life and there was no way in hell she was giving it up. Ever.

While walking, they heard some soldiers talking. Some were speaking about Quiet. They were saying that she wasn't so bad after all and expressed their desire for her to stay with their unit since Snake was okay with her presence. It seems that they have become more accustomed to having the silent sniper in the group and were regretting their harsh treatment of her. Quiet had won them over much to her inner joy. These people, although rough at first, were nothing like XOF. They saved people, saved animals and punished evildoers everywhere they went.

XOF did none of those things, rather the complete opposite. Being taken to these people and recruited as one of them was the right call fate handed to her and she was glad she took it. She was even considered to be their most powerful member due to her abilities of which none of these people had. That gave her and them an edge in battle and with her on board, Diamond Dogs would be respected by allied organizations and feared by those who opposed them.

Some of the soldiers spotted him and gave salutes.

"Mornin' Boss!"

"Good to see ya, Boss!"

"How ya doin', Boss?"

While Venom Snake appreciated the usual greetings he got every time someone saw him, Quiet wondered, despite how she was greeted yesterday, if they felt like that with her now that she was one of them.

"Hi Quiet. Pleased to see you, too." said one soldier.

"Same here." said another.

That answered her question.

"At ease, troops. I'm just on my way to the mess hall for breakfast before beginning my tasks for the day." Venom Snake told them.

"Oh yes, it's about to open. We were just about to head over there ourselves." said a soldier.

"Very well. Let's go." said Venom and he led them all, and Quiet, to the mess hall.

When they got there, there was a large line made of D.D. people, waiting for their meals.

Despite being the leader of Diamond Dogs, he chose to wait for his food like everyone else. He wasn't the type of person to use his authority and rank to outdo others and refused special privileges. That didn't suit well with him.

The minute the two stepped into the cafeteria, all eyes turned to them. They were glad to see their leader.

"Morning Boss!" they all shouted.

Venom nodded and everyone resumed eating their meals.

Snake waited in line while Quiet remained standing at the entrance. She didn't want to intrude.

When Snake got his meal, he sat down at a lone table reserved for him, Kaz and Ocelot.

Seeing Quiet standing by herself, Snake invited her over to his table, ignoring what Kaz would think if he came and saw her sitting there. Touched, she accepted and walked over. She could have just leaped over like she always did in the battlefield, but she wanted to preserve her manners.

She sat down next to him and let him eat in peace while reading a paper.

Soon, Ocelot entered the cafeteria and got his meal too.

He saw Snake sitting and eating with Quiet who just sat there, keeping an eye on him.

The gunslinger approached the table where the Diamond Dogs leader and his silent companion sat.

"Hello Snake." said Ocelot, giving him a salute.

"Hi Ocelot." he said.

"Greetings Quiet." Ocelot said.

She nodded without smiling.

"Where's Miller?" Snake asked.

Quiet flinched at the name.

"He's . . . occupied at the moment." Ocelot answered.

"I didn't see him at the landing when I came back with Quiet. Is he alright?" Venom asked.

"He's fine. He arrived just after you left with Quiet to the med bay. If you're wondering if he expressed the same reaction he always does around her, he didn't. He just asked if you arrived with Quiet. I said yes and he just walked away silently, not saying anything negative or positive about the situation. He seemed lost in thought when he learned you've returned with her. How he feels about her is unknown at the moment." said Ocelot.

"Miller is Miller. Cipher gave him hell. Quiet came from them. It was obvious that he was going to express antagonistic behavior toward her the minute she set foot on our base. He even tried to block a landing when I brought her. Like with me, he too needs time to adjust to her." said Venom.

"I remember. I tried to convince him to drop his plans of preventing a landing, but he refused to yield. All who obeyed his order now regret it as they've grown accustomed to her. The ones who saw you showering with her were them." Ocelot said.

"Well, that's good to know. But I can't say that I blame them for not sharing the same view I had of her being a valuable asset of Diamond Dogs." said Snake.

"Quiet was with you last night, wasn't she? She didn't return to her cell as usual." Ocelot said.

Venom stopped eating for a moment as soon as he heard him say that.

"After what she went through with the Soviets at the palace, I didn't feel right about locking her back into her cell because they did the same thing to her, only their treatment of her was the opposite of how it was here. You can guess how it went. She wrote, on paper, of what they did to her. The only thing I saw when I was there was her wearing one of their uniforms unwillingly and we both know what happens if she's clothed all over. So when her health examination was completed, I invited her to spend the night with me in my quarters. It was the least I could do for her to put her at ease." Venom said.

Ocelot picked up what happened next without the Boss telling him, but he chose to keep it between them.

"So she's chosen to communicate through writing, after all, huh?" he asked.

"Yes. She refused before as you stated, probably to hide her intentions, but now, she has no problem with that, especially when she's around me. It's like you said, she likes me more than anyone on this base." Venom said.

"I'm guessing that . . . other things happened between you and her?" he asked.

"What 'other things'?" Venom asked.

"You know . . ." Ocelot said and made a certain gesture with his hands that looked like two people having sexual intercourse.

Venom nearly spit out his food and Quiet placed a hand over her lips to keep her giggles in.

"Ocelot! That wasn't . . . I didn't . . ." he said in a whisper to keep the other Dogs from hearing the conversation. He tried to lie, but it was failing as Ocelot gave him a look that told him that lying was useless.

"Alright fine. We had a 'special moment' before calling it a night. We deserved it after nearly losing each other and I wanted to seal the deal when the opportunity rose again and I took it." Venom admitted.

Quiet felt the same way. She was glad to took her chance after surviving that battle at the palace grounds.

 ** _Well said._**

"Boss, you sly dog, you." Ocelot teased and then quietly laughed at the irony of his words.

Venom, although still embarrassed, laughed too and so did Quiet, but silently.

"Any plans for today, Boss?" Ocelot asked.

"After this, Quiet and I are heading over to Code Talker to see if he can still cure her. She expressed her want to be cured of her parasite so she can speak again." said Venom.

 _ **It's true. I hate my parasite and I want it out. It's proven to be a nuisance.**_

"Code Talker told Miller and I about why she refused the treatment when you went to retrieve her. It seems her experience out there made her reconsider." Ocelot said.

"She also admitted that to me. Where's Code Talker, by the way?" asked Snake.

"He's in his private quarters, performing one of his old meditating traditions his people used to do in his time." said Ocelot.

The three sat and ate in silence, thinking things. All Quiet had to consume was a bottle of water.

When they finished, they discarded their trays and Ocelot joined Snake and Quiet in their task.

They boarded a jeep and drove. Quiet liked this better than flying because it let her feel the cool breeze that engulfed her during the drive. She could hardly experience that in the helicopter for a certain reason.

As they drove, Snake was wondering what Diamond Dogs would do in the future. The main reason for forming this group in the first place was to rebuild what he lost a decade ago and get rid of Skull Face and XOF. Now that he had succeeded, what else was there to do? They already got their revenge on the people responsible for the incident with the previous Mother Base. Was there a need to keep operating like this without his main opponent?

Perhaps.

Just because Skull Face and XOF were gone did not mean there would not be replacement opponents in the future. Somebody, someone out there, was sure to rise up and become a new threat to them, to the world, who were probably going to be worse that XOF and its dead leader. Whenever one evil organization was defeated and dismantled, a new one always rose to replace them. Perhaps there was a purpose for Diamond Dogs eventually, after all.

Minutes later, they reached the platform that was housing Code Talker.

"Let's go find him." said Venom to Quiet.

She hopped off the vehicle and followed him to the person they were looking for.

They entered a room and found the elderly Code Talker sitting on the floor, doing just as Ocelot said he was doing: meditating.

Venom and Quiet felt uncomfortable about interfering with his session and decided to wait for him to finish until he addressed them without looking at them.

"I was hoping you would see me." the old man said.

"We were told you were meditating, but we didn't know you were still doing it. We can wait outside until you're finished." Snake said.

"No need. I am finished anyway. Help me to my wheelchair, please." he said and Venom complied and the old man was back on his wheelchair.

"What can I do for you two?" he asked them.

"You recall your antidote for the parasitic infections? The thing you used to treat the infectees?" Venom asked the old man.

"Yes. Why do you ask?" he asked.

"After saving Quiet and bringing her back here, she's considering taking your cure for her problem." said the Boss.

"She desires to be free of her English strain?" Code Talker asked.

"Yes. She admitted it to me the other day and we're eager to know when we can start, if that's possible." said Snake.

Code Talker frowned, letting Snake and Quiet know that something was wrong.

"What is it?" Snake asked.

"I am afraid that an operation for her is not possible at this time." he said.

"What? Why?" Snake asked.

Quiet was very confused too.

"Because, sometime earlier, someone damaged my equipment and discarded all of the antidote vaccines into the ocean. Without them, I cannot produce any antidotes for the woman or anyone else infected with any strain at all." he explained.

"Who would do such a thing?" Venom Snake asked. He ruled out his soldiers, Ocelot, Miller, D.D. because they would not be stupid enough to destroy the thing that kept them all safe from any future language outbreaks.

"I viewed the base's security camera videos and discovered the saboteur." said Code Talker.

"Who did you see on the vi-" Venom asked before he suddenly had a feeling of who it was that destroyed the cure.

"It was Eli, wasn't it?" he asked. Remembering Eli's antagonistic behavior, it was no doubt him who did this.

"The blond-haired Caucasian boy who speaks with an English accent? Yes, he was whom I saw on your tapes, I am afraid. My guess was that he rid the base of my antidote in hopes that another outbreak in the future would end you as he wished for your demise." Code Talker answered.

"Goddammit!" Snake uttered.

Quiet's butterfly markings appeared on her face.

 ** _That ungrateful, spoiled brat destroyed my only chance of a cure for my vocal parasite?! Sometimes, I wish we never picked him up from that swampy base otherwise Code Talker would still have his research! He's caused too much trouble for Snake and these people!_**

"So, unless you have replacement tools and equipment that can replicate my cure, there is no way of extracting her parasite." said Code Talker.

An idea popped inside Venom's head, although he disliked it.

"There may be one other solution." he said.

"There is?" asked the old man.

 ** _There is?_**

"I was thinking that perhaps we can perform a surgical procedure on her and get the parasite out that way." he said.

Quiet clutched at her throat nervously.

"Throat surgery?" asked Code Talker.

"Yeah. Eli may have gotten rid of your antidotes, but he didn't throw away any surgical equipment. I saw some of them when Quiet and I were inspected the other day at the Medical Bay, meaning she can still be rid of the parasite." Snake said.

"That makes sense. It is the only solution we have now. But that choice lies with her." Code Talker said and both he and Venom Snake looked at Quiet.

If she wanted to get her parasite out, a surgical operation on her throat was the last resort they had to turn to now as Eli and the child soldiers had destroyed her cure. This would free her of the vocal parasite lodged in her throat for good.

"Surgery may work, however, I must give you two a fair warning." he said and looked at Quiet. "While this plan may remove the parasite and your ability to infect and kill all around you, there is a chance that it could also damage your vocal cords and remove your ability to speak at all. English, Navajo, whatever language you know of, or wish to know of, you may never speak them after the operation is over. You will truly become your namesake and remain mute . . . forever." Code Talker warned.

Now Quiet grew nervous and her butterfly markings remained.

"He's right. This move may cause you to never be able to talk again in the future. The choice is yours, Quiet. But know that no matter what, you are still a Diamond Dog and I'll still be accepting of you for as long as you wish." Venom Snake said.

Quiet appeared to be thinking it over. They both had a huge point. While she wanted her parasite vanquished, she did not want her voice to follow suit, too. To her, it feels like she had bad luck.

 ** _This is a big gamble for me, risk destroying my voice in order to get rid of a problem that spells death the minute I speak the language that triggers it. First, my parasite therapy that saved me and now this. Why did I have to be the one in the world to endure this?_**

 _ **Still, I wouldn't have to worry about speaking English by accident and getting Snake, everyone else, and myself, killed. Some people have led great lives with disabilities. I've even heard of some people who are mute and still managed to pursue happiness without their voices. I can too. Perhaps this can be a good thing.**_

 ** _I must do it. If cutting my parasite out via surgery and sacrificing my ability to talk is the only means of liberating myself from the thing that can cause another outbreak, then so be it. At least I'd still have Snake at my side. I really do love him and he loves me. That is what truly matters._**

"Quiet? You made a decision?" Venom asked.

Quiet took out her pen and paper and wrote down her sentences.

 _"I am ready. I will do it."_

"You sure?" Venom said, making sure that Quiet was certain about making a choice that can never be undone once completed.

She nodded and wrote again.

 _"If it costs me my ability to talk, if it means being with you, then the risk is completely worth it. I am already used to never speaking and being unable to speak for eternity is better than being a living weapon of death. I want to do this, for you and for Diamond Dogs. I don't need speech to be happy. I would much rather be silent forever than a walking biohazard, ready to burst."_

She then held his hand, showing him that she wished to have the surgery, not caring about the big risk. Her love for him was worth losing her voice over.

"It appears you have made your choice. Very well. We will begin the operation right away. We just need to head over to the medical bay with a few surgery experts as I cannot perform surgery myself. The cure was the only exception." said Code Talker.

"Leave that to me." Venom Snake said and used his Droid to contact the best surgeons he had on base.

 _ **This is really going to happen. My vocal parasite will be gone in a matter of hours. Even without speaking, I was still able to express my feelings to him and he loves me. Like I said, I can be happy with him, voice or not voice.**_

Eventually, they boarded a jeep and drove back to the Medical Platform and when they made it, they were joined by a band of surgeons and doctors.

"You called us, Boss?" one asked.

"Yes. I summoned you all here because I need you all to perform an important, surgical procedure." Venom told them.

"Oh no. Are you alright?" one of them asked.

"I"m fine. It's not me I'm asking you to operate on, it's her." Venom said and pointed to Quiet who just smiled at them to show she came in peace.

"What? Really?" they asked.

"Yes. Your task is to extract the vocal parasite residing in her throat and destroy it so that it can never cause another outbreak on our base." Venom told them.

"Are you sure, Boss?" they asked.

"Yes." Venom said.

"You know about the old man's antidote stuff being destroyed by those M.I.A. kids, don't you, Boss?" one asked.

"I know about that. Code Talker explained. That's why we've chosen throat surgery as the next and final resort. Can you do that?" Venom asked.

"Of course, Boss. When does she wish to begin?" asked one of the surgeons.

"Immediately. Right?" he answered and turned to Quiet who nodded.

"As you wish, Boss. Follow us, ma'am. We'll start operating right away." said one surgeon and Venom and Quiet followed the doctors.

As they walked, Quiet looked at Venom and wrote another note and passed it to him.

 _"If there are other things you need to take care of, go ahead. I do not mind."_

"No. I want to remain at your side during and after the operation. We're in this together." he told her. He refused to leave her for anything.

 _"You mean that? That's very sweet of you."_

She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek, signifying her appreciation of his choice to stay with her all day.

Venom Snake smiled and kept walking with his new girlfriend to face her operation with her.

 _ **I am so lucky to have you!**_

They entered the surgery room and, after setting everything up, it was time.

"Okay Boss, we're now going to do the surgery on her. You wanna stay or leave?" the surgeons asked.

"I'm staying. Quiet needs support during this time and I'm the only one who can give that to her." he answered.

"Okay. You ready, Quiet?" they asked her.

She nodded and laid down on the operating table.

They put on their surgery clothes and masks and placed a mask on Quiet's face that unleashed anesthetic gas on her. Although her parasites granted her superhuman abilities, they did not grant her immunity to knockout drugs, as evidenced when Venom Snake sedated her that one time when she attacked that infected soldier.

"I'll watch over you, Quiet. You'll make it." Venom Snake said to her and she gave a thumbs up sign.

"Okay, here we go now." the lead doctor said and after Quiet was unconscious minutes later, they began to operate on her.

Venom stayed in the room, wearing only a surgical mask and watching his unconscious lover being worked on. Because he had witnessed bloodshed on the battlefield, he was no stranger to seeing Quiet's throat leaking blood after being cut open. Normal people would faint or run away at the sight of this.

As the operation happened, Venom suddenly had a very odd image in his mind.

It involved an unknown medical procedure that happened a long time ago. He and an unknown combat medic removed a concealed bomb that was lodged inside the stomach of a girl without anesthesia. He remembered that event, but there was something . . . off about it.

As if something didn't feel right . . .

* * *

 **And here's chapter 2.**

 **Eli ruined Quiet's chances of being cured with Code Talker's formula and she has to resort to throat surgery! What a real little bastard. It seems that Quiet is about to have her parasite removed the old-fashioned way.**

 **Will she survive it?**

 **Will it really render her speechless forever and if so, can she live with that?**

 **Find out soon!**

 **PS: Perhaps an antidote for her was available the whole time after the second outbreak in the game, but I wrote it this way to make the story more . . . "drama-y".**

 **The last part is a reference to a secret scene in the game after completing a certain level. Most of us know what it is . . . But to those who are either new to MGSV or are still playing but have yet to get this secret scene, I'm not telling you what it is. That's for you to decide for yourselves.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Quiet is now undergoing surgery to get her vocal parasite out. Will it work and will she be able to talk in English again or will she become her namesake for the rest of her life?**

 **F** **ind out.**

* * *

Quiet laid on the medical bed unconscious as the doctors worked on her and Venom Snake remained in the room with her just as he said. He refused to leave her side for the entire procedure. It was performed away from sunlight to prevent her throat from healing too quickly during the operation.

Ocelot later joined him and saw the operation taking place.

Like Snake, Ocelot also hoped Quiet would be alright. He had a feeling, on the day Snake confronted and captured her at the ruins, that she would prove very useful for Diamond Dogs and his hunch proved to be correct over the next few months of her stay at the base. Her defection to Diamond Dogs partly helped secure their victory against Skull Face and getting rid of the product Skull Face gave her was the least they could do for her services.

Snake came close to losing her the other day and that was the reason for his refusal to leave, not even for breaks, not that he took any. Ocelot was also amazed that, despite Miller's brutal treatment of Quiet, she refused to hurt the man. She had good reason to do that, but she restrained herself because of her love for Snake and while Ocelot had his own suspicions about the woman before her departure from Mother Base, he still treated her somewhat fairly unlike a certain someone who hated her guts 24/7.

"How long has this been going on?" Ocelot asked.

"It just got started a few minutes ago." said Snake.

"Why not take Code Talker's cure for her instead of putting her through surgery?" he asked. It seemed that Ocelot was not yet aware of the reason for what he was seeing and Snake told him and the gunslinger frowned.

"That kid didn't know when to stop with his behavior. If I were his father, I would have given him a good ol' fashioned spanking on the behind. That's how kids were punished in the old days for messing up." he said about Eli.

"I'm also getting the feeling that it was he who threw that child's necklace into that vat of acid gas before." Snake said.

Ocelot realized he was speaking of that time Quiet risked life and death in that acid tank for that child's necklace.

"Me too. Too bad we didn't install any cameras to record that area then. Knowing Eli, it most likely was him who did that." said Ocelot.

"If I'm not his 'father', then who is?" Snake asked, remembering that DNA test he had about Eli's paternal origins.

"I'm as stumped about it as you, Boss. I always thought he was your creation, until now. Whoever the father of Eli is is, he spawned a selfish brat.

After a minute of silence, he broke it.

"Sorry about her interrogation from before, Boss. With what happened with the first outbreak and learning of her being a carrier of a similar strain that semi-mirrored the disease that killed half of us, I couldn't take any chances. There are other ways to interrogate someone, yes, but the manner we used, I regret it now." Ocelot said, now feeling guilty for his role in torturing Quiet even if it was out of cautious reasons.

"I admit that I too feel guilty for my own part in that. I watched her get electrocuted and drenched in salt water and I did nothing to stop it. Despite that, she still stood by my side afterward and still does now. Normally that would cause anyone who goes through that kind of treatment to feel angered, betrayed and leave, but she still stayed then. She left Mother Base because she feared the second outbreak was her fault and that her silence alone would not guarantee our safety from a third one. I convinced her otherwise." said Snake.

"I did not enjoy torturing her either. Although I was doing my duty, inside, I still didn't feel right doing it to her. Miller, on the other hand, seemed to have enjoyed it, considering his dark past with Cipher and his hatred for Quiet. Huey was a different story. Unlike Quiet, Huey deserved my methods after what he did, both on our base and elsewhere. Still, I'm glad Quiet fights for us and for you now." he said.

"Thanks. She could have killed us all at any point during her stay, but she didn't and no longer wants to. She told me why last night via writing. Yes, she writes now unlike before. Anyway, she said that she liked my treatment of her much better than how it was like with Skull Face and XOF. That's why she defected to us and changed her mind about killing us after getting a taste of how I do things here." said Snake and they both remained there, observing the operation done on Quiet.

The doctors extracted the vocal parasite from Quiet's throat and placed it inside a small tube. Because of its dangerous nature, Snake told Ocelot to destroy it immediately and Ocelot left with the tube in hand while Snake stayed and watched over the silent sniper as they started to seal her throat up before she bled out.

After discarding the parasite, Ocelot headed back to the surgery room.

"The deed is done, Boss. The English strain, as of a few minutes ago, had been vanquished." he declared.

"That's good to hear. Hopefully, that was also the very last voice parasite ever. With Skull Face gone, creating more of those parasites should be impossible now." said Snake.

"Code Talker can make them too, Boss, remember? But knowing him, he refuses to create additional parasites because of the grave damage they've caused around here. They probably remind him of Skull Face as he was forced to create them for him." said Ocelot.

"Well, there's that." said Snake.

He and Snake watched as the doctors began applying stitches to Quiet's throat.

Snake knew her parasites would heal her, but he also wondered if removing the parasite also halted her abilities. Her powers came from another parasitic form Code Talker called "The One That Covers". As the name implied, it was the parasite that healed and covered Quiet's bodily injuries which resulted from what happened to her at the hospital. It's what made her more human-like in appearance while the Skulls were more like zombies or aliens and it granted her the same powers as them except the ability to produce armor and mist and unlike them, she maintained her free will. The Skulls were mindless monsters while she was not.

As Snake sat on his chair, thinking, he suddenly drifted off to sleep.

"Boss? Boss, wake up." he heard a voice and slowly opened his eye.

"Huh? What?" he asked as he shook his sleepiness off.

"The operation's finished." said the doctor.

He looked around and noticed Ocelot was gone, probably to do other things around the base.

"How's Quiet?" Snake asked.

"She's fine, although we're not certain if the operation interfered with her . . . uh, abilities. We're new to her biology ourselves." said the doctor.

"I've been thinking the same thing during the operation. I seriously hope we did not discard her abilities, especially her ability to heal rapidly." Snake said.

"Only she can tell us when she wakes up, Boss . . . that is, if we didn't damage her voice. We'll leave you alone with her for the moment." said the doctor and they all left the room, leaving Snake alone with her.

She laid on the table, her eyes still closed. No butterfly markings were seen on her face and her throat remained the same. No rapid healing was happening.

"You're going to be fine, Quiet. We finally got your vocal parasite out. You're free of it now." he told her.

She did not respond.

Since it was day and getting an idea, Snake opened a window curtain and allowed the sun's rays to shine in and lucky for him, the light hit Quiet. Most of her abilities come from the sun and she was now in need of it to heal and that's exactly what Snake was counting on. All he had to do was let the sunshine do its job on her. If this method could revive her after that fucking pervert soldier drowned her, then it could revive her from her mini-coma.

Just then, his iDroid beeped, startling him.

He picked it up and responded.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"Boss, it's me." said the voice. It was Ocelot.

"Ocelot? Something wrong?" Snake asked.

"Nothing is wrong. I'm calling because there's someone here who wants to speak to you and this time, he's less abrasive." said Ocelot.

"'He'?" asked Snake before he heard another voice which was all too familiar to him.

"Boss." said the voice. It was Kaz Miller.

"Miller." Snake said. He was not in the mood to hear any of his "anti-Quiet" rants. Despite how Miller saw her, Snake was not giving Quiet up for anything or anyone, not even for him.

"I was informed that Quiet is undergoing a surgical procedure to get rid of that strain in her throat." he said.

"Ocelot told you?" Snake asked even though he quickly guessed it.

"Yeah. He came to me and spoke to me about Quiet. He told me what's been going on with her since you brought her back and of how she wants to get rid of her parasite." said Miller.

"You heard correctly and the operation's already over. Her English strain is out and has been disposed of. She's cured now and is resting here with me in the recovery room." said Snake.

"That's good to hear. Listen Boss . . . after some thinking time alone last night and Ocelot's chat with me, I need to say something you might want to hear, something you and I would never thought would be said." said Miller.

"What is it?" Snake asked.

"I . . . I'm sorry . . . about my treatment of Quiet. I was angry and hateful at her for being from Cipher, I did all that I could to get rid of her, even tried convincing you to kill her, but after proving herself to you and to all of Diamond Dogs, I'm now starting to regret my behavior toward her. I let my emotions and my hunger for vengeance against Cipher cloud my thoughts to the point of extreme paranoia and it left me unable to think clearly. She is not a thing, a freak, a monster, whatever she was called by everyone, including me. She is a human being, an excellent soldier, a great ally to our unit and our cause and . . . she's the perfect girl for you. Ocelot told me that part, too, and I don't mind it." he said.

Snake was, for a moment in his mind, unsure if this was really Kaz talking. He hated Quiet to the core, bullied her once in a while, even wished for her death a few times. He even subjected her to the torture he and Ocelot mentioned earlier and tried to convince Snake of killing her when he hunted for her after her escape. Now he was expressing deep regret over his treatment of Quiet? These were the words coming from the man who rejected the silent sniper all because she worked for the organization that opposed them and ruined their lives? Now he was expressing his deepest regrets of his behavior toward her, something Snake never thought he'd do. Snake disliked Miller's behavior, but he felt that it was not his place to tell him what to do or how to think and felt it was best to let Miller decide for himself and now it looked like it would finally pay off.

"You're really becoming more accepting of Quiet?" Snake asked him.

"Yeah. She's not so bad, after all, and I'm willing to work alongside her if you or her desire it. My grudge against Cipher and XOF still stand, but my grudge against her is dead now. Half of our soldiers came from Cipher themselves and you took them in and had them retrained to fight for us. I never noticed that until recently and it made me feel like a hypocrite and a fool. She made the right call in the end and I'm now okay with having her around. I also like to think of her defection to us as rubbing it in Skull Face's . . . well, face. If he were still alive right now, he'd probably be humiliated and angered upon seeing his backup weapon, his 'ace-in-the-hole loyal soldier', now allied with the very people he sent her to kill and that, to me, is very amusing and I would cherish that moment forever." said Miller.

"I'm pretty sure that would be highly embarrassing for an enemy commander like him to see. I'd enjoy it too. I'm glad to know you now support Quiet as a fellow solider of Diamond Dogs." said Snake.

"I hope she comes out fine. Tell her that when she recovers." said Miller and shut off his line.

"Can't believe that you've finally won Miller's friendship, Quiet. I never thought it would happen, but it did." he told the unresponsive woman.

Since it was going to be a long time for her to wake up, Snake had his staff deliver to him some reading material to pass the time. He may be a legendary soldier, but he still needed to keep his mind entertained or risk, how people say, "going nuts".

Later, he was given what he ordered. Some of his soldiers enjoyed comics every now and again as he'd seen them read them whenever he returned, or left, Mother Base. He picked one up and examined it. It was a superhero book. He hadn't read comic books much since his youth days as he would later go on to serve a military life and lacked the time to read them. Now he had all the time he wanted.

"Time to find out what I've been missing." he said and started to read it.

He finished the book and was going to read another one when he was startled by the sound of something crashing and he looked around and saw Quiet sitting up from the operating table. She had dropped an empty surgery tray from waking up.

"Quiet?" he asked and put his book down and walked to her.

Quiet looked around, placing her hand to the side of her head and saw Snake approaching her. Feeling groggy from the surgery, Quiet stood up, only to suddenly limp and topple over.

"Whoa!" Snake said and quickly grabbed her to keep her from falling.

"Don't leave the table. You're still effected by the anesthesia. Stay in the sunlight until it wears off." Snake said.

Quiet, despite being in contact with the sun rays, was still under the influence of the pain-numbing drug and it disoriented her movements. Nevertheless, she agreed and let Snake place her back on the table and she laid back down. The sun felt good on her bare skin.

She nodded and smiled at him.

Snake wasn't sure if that was her smiling or the pain drugs was making her. Even her parasites did not guard her from sedative drugs as proven on the day Snake injected her with a sedative when she attacked that Diamond Dogs soldier with a knife.

He looked at her throat and saw the sun starting to heal her surgical wound, that was a good thing.

"I told you I wouldn't leave you alone." he said and he took his glove off from his real hand and interlocked it with Quiet's hand, giving it a gentle squeeze.

Quiet looked at it and rubbed circles around his hand before dozing off again.

Eventually, she woke and saw Snake still inside the room with her, reading his comic books again.

 ** _He sure loves those books. How long was I out?_**

She looked at the clock and found that half an hour had gone by already. But to her, it felt like hours.

"How are you doing?" he asked when he saw her moving again.

Quiet gave him a thumbs up signal. She requested something to write on and he gave her the same notepad and pen she used the other night and wrote a message on the pad.

 _Did it work? Is my parasite out of my throat?_

"Yes. They took it out and Ocelot disposed of it. Your English strain is gone now. You're free of it." Snake said.

Quiet placed a hand to her throat and grabbed a handheld mirror nearby to see for herself.

 ** _It worked! I am free of that dreaded parasite! Now I do not have to worry about infecting anyone again!_**

"Are your other abilities still with you?" he asked.

Feeling no traces of anesthesia in her system, Quiet sat up and got off the operating table. No falling this time.

"So you're clear of the drugs?" Snake asked and Quiet nodded and demonstrated by doing backflips and teleporting with ease. She was fine again.

 _ **Affirmative!**_

"What about your voice? Can you speak now that you don't have the parasite anymore?" he asked her.

Quiet stopped her flipping and looked at Snake. She too wondered if speaking English was possible now without the parasite causing any trouble if she did.

 ** _Only one way to find out . . ._**

This was it. Quiet, a former XOF-turned-Diamond-Dogs-soldier, and Venom Snake's new love interest, was going to see if she could now speak safely.

She opened her mouth and Snake braced himself to hear anything from her . . .

* * *

 **And here's chapter 3.**

 **Quiet survived the operation, her parasite's gone now, she still has all her abilities and is now going to try speaking.**

 **Did the operation damage her voice? Is she able to talk again or is she mute forever? Will Venom Snake finally hear the voice he hadn't heard since Cyprus (only this time, it's out of good cause)?**

 **Should the "secret ending" from the game be included in this fic or should it rather be ignored here?**

 **Whatever comic books Snake is reading is up to you to decide. What do you all think he's reading?**

 **More coming.**

 **PS: This fic won't be long. Only a few chapters.**


	4. Chapter 4

**In the last chapter, after returning safely to the Diamond Dogs base, Quiet had decided to have her English parasite taken out through surgery out of wanting to speak English again due to her near-death experience caused by her choice of leaving the base. The parasite is gone now and the chapter ended with her about to say her first English words in a long time now that she is clear. She will speak in this chapter and she has plenty to say now that she can.**

 **What will their relationship be like now?**

 **What will Diamond Dogs** **do now that they've succeeded in killing Skull Face and stopping most of XOF?**

 **How will Quiet feel about Snake if she ever finds out his deep, dark secret? Hell, how will he feel if he discovers his own deep, dark secret?**

 **This chapter will also shed some light on Quiet's past. Some will be customary as we hardly know what she was like before the events of the game.**

 **PS: Quiet's thoughts will now be shown like** _this_ **rather than what you're looking at now and in previous chapters for a reason that needs no explaining. You can figure it out, can't ya? Oh yes, you can! Yes, you can! Very good, readers! Here, get the snack!**

 ***throws snack treat at you***

* * *

Quiet, the almost-nude, super-powered sniping assassin, former deadly member of XOF, participant of the Cyprus hospital invasion, former enemy of Venom Snake, current member of Diamond Dogs and new love interest of the organization's leader and co-founder himself, opened her mouth to speak and Snake was excited to hear her first English words since the hospital incident like a parent waiting to hear their child's first words.

He wondered what she was going to say to him. Whatever it was, he did not care as long as the operation would allow her to talk safely with no problems.

Ever since coming to Mother Base, she was part of Skull Face's plot to wipe out Big Boss and all of Diamond Dogs as a last-ditch failsafe for him. All she had to do in order for that to happen was to utter one random English word while infected with the English strain and his plot would have been fulfilled and all on base, herself included, would have died in time. But she eventually changed her mind about the plot when she got to know the Diamond Dogs team and Snake better and decided to hold it in for the sake of the group and now she no longer had to and now she was going to prove it.

At last, a voice protruded from her mouth.

"Kept you waiting, huh?" she said softly with a foreign accent and using his well-known catchphrase on him. It was something she had always wanted to try when she started to become more friendly with him.

The surgery had worked. Her voice had suffered no damage from the operation.

Happiness filled the Diamond Dogs leader upon hearing Quiet now speaking English safely without any problems. He loved the sound of her foreign-sounding voice. He heard it before at the hospital and dreaded it after his escape and because they were now in a relationship, he now enjoyed hearing it again.

"It worked! You can speak English, now!" he said.

"I . . . can! I really can speak it again!" Quiet said very happily as she clutched at her throat, not from pain, but from joy. No parasite to keep her silent any longer.

Quiet hugged Snake out of happiness and he returned the favor, both not letting go. It was like that rainy day, minus the rain.

After a while, they released each other and stared at each other's eyes. Both eyes were filled with love and happiness for each other.

"How does it feel to finally speak English again without that parasite lodged in your throat?" Snake asked her, placing a hand on her throat to feel the one spot that once was home to the thing that prevented her from speaking his language and spelled doom for Diamond Dogs if she did.

It was a touch she enjoyed.

With the parasite gone, she no longer posed any risk for everyone here and was free to speak again.

"It feels great! I never thought that I would be able to speak in this language ever again without causing any casualties and be lost in eternal silence. Ever since I started to become better acquainted with you during my stay on this base, I wanted to deeply express my growing feelings for you with my own words, but I was unable to because of that bothersome parasite lingering inside me. But now that it has been vanquished, I can now tell you! I love you, Snake! Thank you for freeing me of my burden and for accepting me as one of your own!" Quiet said and she wrapped her arms around him again and kissed him in celebration of her newfound speech freedom and he did the same with her.

Normally, being giddy like he was now was outside of his nature as he often focused on things that did not bring these feelings to him most of the time, but he could not help it this time and he did not want to. Quiet was the reason behind it and he embraced it. He hardly felt this type of happiness and joy for someone in a long time and he now had every right to be that way as he had deserved it. Being known as a tough and fearsome soldier did not mean he had to be like that all the time and the woman hugging and kissing him happily was the key to it all and the one who shattered his gloominess.

The same thing applied to Quiet. She was like him, gloomy and hardly having time for romance and friendship, always focusing on slaying people for a living because of her childhood. But that all dissolved when she fell in love with the man she failed to kill twice and changed her, figuratively and literally, for the better. He was the key to her newfound happiness as she was to him and she took it.

After a while, the two lovers stopped what they were doing and stared at each other, both with smiles on their faces.

Snake was feeling a rush of adrenaline from the situation and began to try calm himself down to avoid getting too excited and Quiet was doing the same thing.

Tears of joy ran down her eyes and on her cheeks and they stung her face, but she did not care as she was too happy to notice.

Seeing that, Snake went to fetch a piece of tissue paper and used it to wipe her tears away like he did the other night.

She blushed at that action.

"You love me, Quiet?" Snake asked.

"Yes, I do. Very much! You are the love of my life and I do not regret it! I am never returning to XOF again! They can rot for all I care! This is where I belong now!" she exclaimed and kissed him again for the fun of it.

"Well, since I'm off-duty, you want to go and spend time alone together somewhere? I used to prefer spending time alone, but now I want to do that with you." he asked her when she finished.

Quiet smiled. He was asking her out like a boy and a girl would do in school, something she never experienced before as she said in her story to him last night about her troubled past.

"Yes! I would like that very much!" she said gladly.

"I was thinking of paying a visit to that animal sanctuary we have on base. It's where every animal I've caught in my travels was placed and I haven't been there at all due to my busy schedule. Now that I'm taking a break from missions, I want to go and see them. Plus, it's less noisy than any of the other platforms." he said.

"Sounds interesting. When do you want to go?" she asked.

"Right now. I'll summon our ride." he said and fetched his iDroid and called in their usual helicopter to pick them up from the medical strut. When he finished, he and her left the medical room and headed for the landing pad to wait for the helicopter.

As they stood there waiting, Snake had something to ask Quiet.

"Hey." he said to her.

"What is it?" she asked.

I was wondering something." he said.

"What would that be?" she asked.

"Does your throat hurt when you speak?" he asked.

"No. Why?" she asked.

"Because when someone undergoes a surgical operation, they feel some pain and discomfort on the spot they were operated on for days, weeks or sometimes longer as a side effect, but you don't seem to be experiencing any of that. Since you had surgery on your throat, not that I want you to feel any pain from it, how is that possible? About not feeling pain? I know you have a healing ability that regenerates any wound you receive, but still, I just want to know out of curiosity. Although I wasn't there to witness it, I can tell that even you had to have had surgery to repair the damage you sustained from that night at Cyprus which led to what you are today." he said.

Quiet knew this was going to take long to explain, but since they were waiting for their helicopter to come and pick them up for their personal day off together, she figured she owed him a further explanation about her biology.

"Well, you see . . ." she began and answered his question about why she could not feel discomfort.

"So, that's why you can speak without feeling pain in your throat?" he asked when she was finished.

"Yes. As with regular wounds and injuries, the discomfort from surgical wounds vanish as quickly as possible when I am exposed to sunlight, which you did for me after my operation. My healing is as advanced as you and Ocelot believed. Without my parasites, it would have taken weeks for the surgical wound on my throat to heal, the same with my burn injuries from the hospital raid, but because of my biology, it is as if I never went under the knife at all or sustained my burns. That battle at the palace, my injuries took longer to heal because we were covered in a raging storm of sand which was blocking the sun from fully touching me. I was lucky that it was still daylight when that wretched soldier had me in his grasp and drowned me, otherwise I would never would have been revived and I would have remained dead even if those pants I unwillingly wore were removed from my legs. You recall what Ocelot told you about my biology on his report and that moment proved it." she said.

"We sure don't want that to happen again. That must have been terrifying for you." Snake said.

"No, we do not and it was. I thought I would never see you again after that and I was scared then because I believed that you would never know how I felt about you. I never want that to happen." Quiet said and patted his hand.

"You are amazing." he said.

"I know. I am now, unlike previously." she said with a smile.

Soon, the helicopter had arrived and they stood back and watched as it began to descend onto the pad.

Snake opened the door and he and Quiet stepped inside.

"You called, Boss?" asked the pilot.

"Yes. I would like to head over to the base's animal sanctuary spot to observe the animals I caught in my missions." said Snake.

"Alright. Close the door and we'll get going immediately." said the pilot.

He did and he and Quiet took their seats.

"Departing." said the pilot and began to ascend into the air and the helicopter started to fly away from the med strut and toward its destination with its pilot and two passengers inside.

"So how did her surgery go, Boss? Can she talk again?" the pilot asked.

"Yeah. She's clear of the parasite strain. Just ask her yourself." said Snake.

"He is right. I can now speak English fully and clearly without any hazardous risk. No infections can spread from me from now on." Quiet told the pilot.

"Whoa! That's what you sound like? Well, congrats on fixing your speaking problem, Quiet." the pilot replied and returned to focusing on flying the helicopter.

Other than to spend time with the legendary Big Boss to celebrate the success of her operation, Quiet had another reason for coming along with him.

Like with people, she had also killed animals. Plenty of them.

Outside of self-defense whenever she was out in the field doing something for XOF back when she was with them, Quiet had also killed them as part of her training from XOF before turning to killing humans targets and as a means of venting her anger from her failure of killing Snake at the hospital, for being defeated at the hands of that mysterious bandaged man who helped Snake when he was weak and for being mutated into her current form with the parasites to survive because of them. Both were hospitalized, but the bandaged man was able to take her on like he was fully healed from whatever he was there for while Snake could hardly move after years of being comatose. She even killed animals for food whenever she was in the field for more than one day and no food of any kind was available nearby. One of those kill-to-eat methods when one was on the brink of starvation.

Like with whoever she killed, she felt no remorse for those other activities back then and she now began to feel regret of those acts too like she did with all she had slaughtered for XOF as she had explained to Snake the other day and her current venture to the sanctuary was to seek personal atonement for what she did to every innocent animal that she crossed paths with. There was a difference between killing animals for sustenance and/or self defense and killing them for pleasure or target practice and the latter two were far more horrible than the former two options. Still, Quiet disliked all four options just the same and decided to make another change to add to her new personality.

 _I promise to never hurt another animal again and start embracing and saving them from all harm. If my digestive organs were still present, I would turn to vegetarianism also._ She thought to herself.

She then realized something was amiss with him.

"Snake." she said.

"Yes?" he asked.

"Where is the dog?" she asked.

"DD?" he said.

She nodded.

"Whoa. I haven't seen him since I flew out to save you. Come to think of it, I haven't seen him since I came back with you. I must have forgotten about him. He probably misses me too much already." Snake said and felt ashamed for not bothering to check on his beloved canine companion. He was too focused on Quiet to notice that.

"If you like, give Ocelot a call to make sure. Maybe the animal is with him right now." Quiet said.

"Good idea." he said and grabbed his iDroid and contacted Ocelot's frequency.

Soon, they both heard his voice.

"You rang, Boss?" said the gunslinger.

"Yeah. I'm calling to see if you know where DD is. I forgot all about him ever since the situation with Quiet and I hope he's not lost on the base. Is he with you?" said Snake.

"Yeah, he's with me. He's napping right now and I don't want to wake him. I figured you'd be focused on Quiet to spend any time with DD, so I took up that duty for you until further notice." said Ocelot.

"Good to hear. I started to worry for a second when I suddenly remembered." said Snake.

"I know you worry for him. You do that for all of our soldiers on Mother Base. It's what a good leader does. Only a bad leader would ignore his or her troops. Anything else you need?" asked Ocelot.

"No, that'll be all. I was just checking. I'll see you and him later." said Snake.

"Roger that, Boss. Enjoy whatever it is you're doing." said Ocelot and the iDroid went silent.

"That's a relief. DD's fine." said Snake.

"That is good news. I was starting to get used to having that walking ball of fur around. He helped relieve me of stress during my stay in my cell. Ocelot would bring him to me once a day and I would play with him and he loved spending time with me. He would either whine or lick me after being called away." said Quiet and she turned and looked out the window.

"You spent time with DD when he was on base?" Snake asked.

Precisely. Unlike most of your soldiers before, DD showed no feelings of hostility toward me. He accepted me immediately when I was new and I saw him as the first real friend I had on base when nobody else would spent any time with me. Ocelot did, but only for scientific or business reasons. Nothing more. Now that I am a popular person around here, I still refer to spend time with whenever possible. I refuse to abandon him no matter what." she said.

Well, I'll be sure to summon him to you eventually. I want to see how friendly he is with you." Snake said.

"You will see soon enough." said Quiet.

The chopper was still flying over the ocean and the bases were getting far away.

Quiet looked down at the large body of water that has inhabited the world for billions of years. Prehistoric creatures lived in it before modern animals, before humans started sailing on it. Despite the ocean being extremely dangerous to her as it was all saltwater, she showed no fear of it. If she were to fall in, she would most certainly die in a matter of seconds.

Although a joke at first, she began to consider wearing a Fulton harness on herself in the near future in case she were to ever fall into the ocean during a helicopter ride. It would most certainly come in handy if that happened. If being splashed by a bucket of saltwater was painful enough, it frightened her to even think of what falling into the gigantic ocean would result in for her. To her, touching saltwater was like putting peroxide on a deep gash or other kind of wound or falling into a boiling lake of lava. When Miller had a Diamond Dogs soldier drench her in saltwater before, the pain was almost to an unbearable degree. It hurt so much, but she resisted the urge to scream. She thought she was going to pass out or die right there until Ocelot stopped it and saved her with his canteen of clear water.

After a minute of staring, Snake said, "You looking for something?"

Quiet turned suddenly upon hearing his voice and pointed to the ocean.

Snake understood what she meant.

"Yea, you really do not want to go for a swim in there. That would be like suicide for you. Even I dare not do that. I might become food for any carnivorous animal if I did get stranded in the sea. Or I would be swimming in something or someone's urine or fecal matter dumped into the water." he said and Quiet looked down at the ocean and saw three fish-like animals below the surface. They were only dolphins.

"I know. Still, I like to look at it once in a while. Most of my life was spent in either cities, towns or wilderness areas, so I never actually visited any beaches. When you brought me to your base, the atmosphere felt alien and sometimes nauseating to me at first, sea air or such, but I eventually adapted to it and now, I love spending time near the sea despite the danger it poses to my current biology." she said.

"Same for me. Making a home in the middle of the ocean was new for me, too. I'm also used to it now. With my eyepatch and the base being a water-based fortress, I feel like a pirate sometimes." he said.

"If you had a peg leg, a talking parrot and a chest full of treasure, you would fit the description of one. What is it that they are known for saying?" Quiet asked.

"'Arrgh'?" Snake asked and Quiet giggled.

"I got you to say it!" she said.

"Oh, I see what you did there." Snake said with a grin.

"'See'." Quiet said and Snake chuckled at his own wordplay. He made a joke without being aware of it. As in "sea".

"May I spend time outside the helicopter like I usually do?" she asked after she stopped giggling.

"Go ahead. I don't mind." he said.

Quiet smiled and proceeded to open the door and she quickly moved to the side of the helicopter and remained there, her hand gripping the side as tight as possible. She had done this plenty of times, so she still had it even after her surgery.

After a minute of standing by the side, Snake asked, "You really like 'hanging around' on my helicopters a lot, do you?"

Quiet looked at him and giggled.

"Did you just make a joke out of what I do when I fly on this contraption of yours?" she asked.

"Probably. Now I am the joke-teller." he said.

 _I hardly heard him making jokes like that when I started living and working with him. I wonder if I did that, too?_ Quiet thought. Her presence really did change him and vice versa for her.

At last, they reached the sanctuary. It looked like one large zoo in the middle of the ocean. Some of the containers were large to hold big-sized animal species and some were small to contain small ones.

"We're here." Snake said.

 _This place is enormous and beautiful._ Quiet thought. This was her very first time visiting an animal sanctuary, much less a zoo. She never visited one before.

"Welcome to the animal sanctuary, you guys!" the pilot announced as they kept flying closer to the strut.

Snake and Quiet secured themselves to their seats as one of them shut the door and prepared to land.

The helicopter slowly settled on the base's pad and Snake got up and walked out of the open door while Quiet just simply stepped down from her spot.

"So this is where every animal I ever caught ended up at." said Snake, amazed by the size of the base and the many cages that housed the creatures. While he authorized the construction of this place, he never believed it would be this huge and contain lots of animals.

"Shall I stay here or depart?" the pilot asked.

"You can leave. I'll summon you when we're done." Snake replied.

"Okay. Enjoy your time in the animal preserve." said the pilot and he flew the helicopter up, up and away.

The helicopter was gone soon and Snake and Quiet were the only people on the entire strut. There was nobody around, just them and the animals.

 _This is more like it. No people, no whirring machinery, no sounds of gunfire, explosions, sirens or screams. Just animals, the ocean, the air, the one I love and me._ Quiet thought as she glanced her eyes around the animal base, eyeing as much of her new surroundings as she could. She could not wait to begin exploring it all with the man standing next to her.

Although Quiet can speak again, she still liked thinking personal thoughts and opinions in her mind. It was a habit she had to strongly master when she became a carrier for the English strain and that remained with her, even with her parasite gone. Speaking was going to take time to get used to doing again after being non-verbal for months. It was torture sometimes, but she prevailed at being mute for as long as possible. It was a rare feat that not everyone can achieve. It was like how Venom Snake had to learn how to use his bionic arm after obtaining it. That, too, was difficult, but he adjusted to it soon and so will speaking for Quiet.

"Let us start exploring this place." she said.

"Which animal would you like to see first?" he asked.

Quiet thought for a moment and gave her answer.

"Let us inspect whatever is here first before moving on to the other exhibits. I prefer we visit these creatures in an orderly fashion. It is better than selecting random spots." she said.

"Okay then." Snake said and he and her began to venture all throughout the first strut.

They were amazed by how many animals were living on this side of the ocean base. The animals that were seen on the strut were a few wild dogs, sheep, even a couple of bears. Just how many animals did this man capture?

The living arrangements of the animal population such as feeding, bathing and waste disposal, were done automatically via machinery. This method was the base's way of reducing the chances of any harm or death inflicted on staff members by any of the animals. The carnivorous ones, especially the bears and wolves, were the most dangerous if provoked as most of the animals were not used to people. Many of the soldiers were glad to not take on any guard duties on the sanctuary, especially around the bears. Some of them even joked about Snake capturing Bigfoot, the Chupacabra or the Loch Ness Monster for the site.

Quiet saw the sheep and they stared back at her.

They said that animals can sense people and Quiet wondered if they can sense her difference from regular people.

Wanting to interact with them, she carefully approached the cage containing them, removed the glove on her right hand and held it out for them to touch.

Of course, none of the sheep wanted to interact with her as they were wild-raised and were distrustful of people. But only one dared to approach her and, after a moment of smelling her hand, the animal placed its face into her palm and allowed Quiet to pet it which she did with a gentle massage.

 _This one likes me. I cannot blame the others of its kind to fear people, especially since they were captured and sent to this place by one._ She thought as she kept petting the sheep and smiled at its friendliness.

The other sheep saw this and, out of randomness for Quiet, they too approached her and examined her. Unlike the previous sheep, they did not want any cuddles from her, but they still remained near her out of curiosity or something else.

 _It is like having an animal companion all over again. I have not had one since my childhood days . . . before things changed for me._ She thought and had a mental flashback.

As a little girl, Quiet had a pet once, a cockatiel bird. Since she was an only child, her parents offered her a pet of her own for times whenever they were not around for her and she needed some company and she chose a bird. She treated the bird like it was her sibling and it was her greatest friend in existence. Her bird loved spending time with her and would do things lots of other pets did like snuggle, cuddle and sleep with her.

Unfortunately, like with her family and neighbors, her bird flew away when her hometown was ransacked and destroyed by hostile militia and she never saw it again.

That was also another reason why she refused to get attached to anyone or anything afterwards as she got older because it would remind her of what she lost and she did not want to feel that kind of pain again. She thought that by discarding a need for company, family and friends, it would allow her to be more focused on important things like her career with XOF. Now the feeling of companionship has returned to her thanks to Big Boss and she never wanted to lose that feeling again after years of internal numbness. Snake changed that now and she had learned to open up and love again. It was better than being alone forever. What good were superhuman abilities and an extended life span if there was nobody to share it with? It was like going to a movie theater and watching a film alone without additional audience members.

Snapping out of her flashback, she then tried to interact with the bears. The result was the opposite she had with the sheep as they growled at her, telling her that they were not in a happy mood.

"I bet they're still mad about being plucked from their habitat. Give them time and they'll come around. It worked for you, didn't it?" said Snake.

Her butterfly marks surfaced across her eyes, more out of caution instead of anger like usual.

This caused the bears to stop growling and back away, sensing her emotions and being scared of her appearance.

"As you wish. These animals are still distrustful of people and I do not blame them for feeling that way. We felt the same way about each other before, you know." said Quiet.

"True. I didn't trust you and ditto for you. Plus, it was either bring them here or leave them to be hunted and killed by the soldiers that ransacked their homes and the latter felt wrong for me." Snake said.

"I am glad you saved them, even if they do not know we are friendly yet and mistake us for them." said Quiet.

She looked at the other animals in the other cages.

The canine ones had different reactions. Some were friendly, some were hostile.

After visiting the animals on this side of the base, Quiet decided to visit the large cage holding the various bird species. Aside from the birds she saw during her missions spent in the Afghan desert before and after she joined Snake, she would finally get the chance to interact with them for real.

She and Snake walked over to the cage, entered and got a great view from inside. Trees, greens and fresh air overtook the luxurious place. It was like a jungle in here, which was the idea to allow the birds to feel as if they were still in their homes. Even animals got homesick sometimes, not just humans.

Seeing and hearing the birds made the sniper woman smile from remembering her own pet bird.

"You want to see them up close?" Snake asked her.

Quiet turned her head to him and nodded while saying, "I do."

"Use these then." he said and grabbed his Walkman, put a tape inside, handed it to Quiet, which she took, along with a bag of what appeared to be bird food.

"What are these?" she asked.

"Birdseed to feed them, which you already can guess by now. As for the tape, it contains bird sounds. Try using it to lure them to you when you enter. Makes it easier for them to interact with rather than by going in without it." he told her.

Quiet placed the Walkman onto her belt via its clip, took the bag of birdseed and started to make her way around, giving glares at whatever moved.

She controlled her walking pace as she did not want to rush and risk scaring the birds, especially with her ability to travel faster than regular people.

Since the birds were born and raised in the wild, interactions with humans was very difficult for them to comprehend. They might have even been attacked and traumatized by people, herself included as she remembered her treatment of animals, and she could not blame them for being uncomfortable around people of any kind, be it regular like Snake or enhanced like her. The way an animal acts around people depends on how it was raised from the start. If raised in a loving, nurturing environment, the animal will be friendly and affectionate. If raised around hostility, it will act scared, angry and very distrustful of humans and other animals.

After entering, Quiet spotted several toucans standing next to each other. One of them was grooming another and they seemed to enjoy it.

Those birds reminded Quiet of a commercial she once saw on television that featured a talking, cartoon toucan as a mascot for an American-made breakfast cereal. She never ate the cereal before, but she had heard of it. Too bad her digestive organs were long gone otherwise she would probably ask for it by the base's staff as they were somehow able to get their hands on practically anything from the outside world. During her stay on Mother Base, she saw some soldiers watching movies, television, play video games on either cabinets or on consoles, read comic book and novels, listen to records and/or tapes and use radios to listen to things like sports, music or news events. XOF had those things too, but they used dirty methods to obtain them.

Even when they were outside the boundaries of every nation and government on the planet, they still had to do jobs and find ways to entertain themselves. Some still practiced their cultures and religious beliefs despite no longer living in where they originated from. After all, this place was for all people of any types and discrimination, hatred and bigotry of all kinds had no place here. Racism, sexism, ageism, anti-antisemitism, those things were forbidden on Mother Base as they would cause a lot of trouble among the base's staff. Those who violated those rules would face disciplinary action. It has happened to some staff members and after some frightening punishments, they were allowed to serve again as long as they did not repeat what they did that got them in trouble in the first place.

Quiet did not participate in things like those herself. She may have been a ruthless black ops assassin before becoming a Diamond Dog member, but she did not condone that kind of behavior and refused to kill out of it. To her, a target was a target no matter who it was. She did not care what type of people her victims were. She still slaughtered them, just the same, even those of the same race and nationality as her. It was all about the job and nothing more.

Quiet saw a ladder that led to the upper section of the cage and used her advanced jump to get to the top in a second. When she got there, she simply waved at the birds to show her friendliness to them and all they did was stare at her, not sure how to act around her. While Quiet was enhanced, she still had no ability to communicate with animals. They still looked at her as they did any other person.

Many flew away from her out of instinct when she made it there.

Quiet placed the tape Snake give her, checked it to see if it was fully rewound, which it was, and placed it inside the Walkman player. She pressed the "play" button, switched it to its "speaker" mode and held it out with one hand for the birds to hear.

 _I hope this works._ She thought as the Walkman started to play bird calls and noises from its speakers.

She placed the still-playing tape player on the ground, removed her short glove, poured some of the seeds into her hand and held her seed-filled hand in the air, hoping any of the birds would come to her now that she was holding free food. What animal would resist free food? Unlike humans, they had to find and hunt their own meals and were hardly offered any by another species.

After a minute had gone by, a couple of birds started to fly to the woman and Quiet just stood as still as she could to avoid spooking them.

The other birds watched as the ones near Quiet tip-toed toward her and Quiet observed, seeds ready for consumption.

"I am no threat. I am friendly." she whispered, trying to gain the birds' trust.

When they were inches away from her on one of the cage's rails, Quiet neared her hand to it and the bird inches its head close to the food, took a millisecond to examine the food and took a nibble.

The bird's reaction was a gentle chirp and it continued to eat the seeds.

"See? I told you I was friendly." Quiet said to the bird that just kept eating.

Seeing this, the other two birds joined in and had their share of seeds and seemed to enjoy them by the soft, chirping sounds they were making.

Back outside, Snake saw this and grinned.

"Well, what do you know? Distance sniping and CQC are not the only things she's skillful at." he said to himself.

Back inside the cage, Quiet smiled again. Being around these animals and feeding them treats made her happy other than being with Snake. This was one of the few happy days she had ever experienced.

 _Such wonderful birds._ She thought as she kept feeding them.

Snake wanted to join her in interacting with the birds, but had second thoughts when he realized that his appearance might frighten them away and he did not wish to ruin his girlfriend's experience with the creatures.

As Quiet fed the birds, most of the entire cage's bird population began flying toward her, wanting the food she was offering and seeing them coming, Quiet placed the remaining seeds on the flat rail to allow the birds to eat by themselves and she took off her other glove, the one covering a third of her left arm, poured more seeds on that hand and was being surrounded by the flock of birds who began to dive face-first at the extra seeds.

One of them even nuzzled its head and beak at her hand, probably out of gratefulness for the food and she responded with a gentle rub to its head.

"Was she a bird professional before?" Snake asked himself from seeing Quiet's interaction with the flying animals.

Shaking it off, he went to a bench and sat on it, waiting for her to return to him. He could visit the other animals on the site, but he would rather do that with Quiet than by himself. It was more fun that way to him.

Sometime later, she ran out of bird seed and played with the birds one more time before she was finally spent and decided to return to Snake outside the cage.

"I hope to see you again one day." she said and put her gloves back on, placed the Walkman back on her belt and walked away, leaving the birds by themselves.

She found Snake sitting on a bench, watching her.

 _I wonder who he is watching, the animals or me?_ She thought jokingly as she leaped off the high balcony and back on the ground and met up with him again.

"Did you enjoy yourself in there?" he asked.

"I did. They enjoyed being around me thanks to the tape player and the bag of seeds. Thank you for those." she said.

"Glad you liked it." he said.

"Were you observing the birds or me earlier?" she asked him.

"Both, mostly the birds." he answered.

 _And maybe you._ He thought.

"Sure you did. I think you enjoyed looking at me more." she teased.

Snake grinned, unable to help himself.

 _How can I resist looking at this fine woman?_ He thought.

"You got me. I was looking at you sometimes because you're irresistible." he admitted.

"I knew it." she said.

"Still want to see what else lives here?" he asked.

"Yes." she replied.

The two walked around some more, holding hands this time. Even when there were security cameras around and active, neither person cared about who was watching. The staff were going to find out sometime and they figured better now than later. If that happened, then so be it. Relationships were nothing to be ashamed of. Lots of people have them.

They saw some small and larger animals other than what they already encountered. Lizards, porcupines, amphibians, snakes (which made the Diamond Dogs leader feel uncomfortable after remembering what happened at the abandoned palace in Afghanistan before), hyenas and even the rare animal species he caught out in the field.

Was he a zookeeper at some point before he turned to life as a military man? Quiet thought humorously because of Snake's capture of various animals.

They interacted with these creatures too and, like with the bears, sheep and birds, they too had to earn the trust and affection of some of the animals. Some just did not want to be touched or fed and Quiet and Snake accepted that and let those ones be.

A few hours passed since their arrival on the sanctuary base and Snake and Quiet had already, at this point, seen and interacted with just about every animal in captivity and were considering returning to the main part of Mother Base for a meal and relaxation elsewhere.

It was about somewhere around seven in the afternoon. The sun was going down and he and her were going to call it a day and return to base.

"Hey Quiet." he said.

"Yes?" she asked.

"You done here?" he asked.

"Yes. Unless you want to remain here longer." she said.

"No, I'm done here, too. I was thinking about heading back to the command post." he said.

"Alright. Let us head back." she agreed.

"Great. I was thinking about using the base's gym." he said.

"You have a gym on this base, as in machines, weights and treadmills?" she asked.

"Of course. How else do you think I look like this every day?" he asked and flexed himself like a pro bodybuilder as a joke.

Quiet could not help but giggle from this and become aroused at the sight simultaneously. His muscular form was what excited her all the time. It was better than that noodle look he had at the hospital.

"I assumed all the running around, lifting and fighting you do during your travels kept you fit." she said.

"True, but it's not just that. Ever since I came here after the Cyprus incident, I've been going through rigorous fitness sessions whenever I'm on Mother Base to regain and keep the muscle mass I lost during my coma and I personally swore to never return to how I was when I woke up, all skinny and weak. That was a nightmare for me and it was embarrassing, to tell you the truth." he said.

Again, Quiet remembered his appearance when she found him. He looked physically weak, frail and was an easy-to-kill target for anyone besides her. He resembled a seriously tortured POW camp prisoner and, at the time of her attempted murder of him, she mentally mocked him for how he looked and how he was unable to properly defend himself when she was choking him to death. She enjoyed that, seeing the suffocating pain on his bandaged face as she squeezed like hell to end him, but at the same time, she was also lightly disappointed that the legendary man she was sent to kill did not put up much of a fight against her after hearing all the stories about his accomplishments and of how skilled he was at unarmed combat. Back then, a part of her hoped he would as she sometimes enjoyed going up against targets that were challenging. Weak people like his post-coma self were more like for beginner assassins in training than for experienced killers. It was like a professional, experienced bicyclist riding a bicycle with training wheels attached to the sides.

As stated the other day before her surgery, she deeply regretted that night and was now as embarrassed of it as he was. The next time she encountered a person who was also physically weak and comatose like Snake was, she would defend that person from all threats at all costs as another means of making up for her deeds as a murderer. However, her only exception would be Skull Face if he were like how Snake was. If that were to happen if he was still alive, she would feel he deserved it and would leave him open for whatever dangers that awaited him and watch him suffer. Unlike with Snake and countless others, she would feel no remorse for that hypothetical event.

Who would have thought that the famous Big Boss would go from the mere, weak and frail man she found in Cyprus to the buff and fit Mr. Olympia-wannabe she was looking at right now? Other than laziness, being comatose can shrink one's muscular system from long periods of inactivity and it was obvious that he would train real hard after the escape to return to the large powerhouse he was before and what she was seeing now. To her, he looked good this way and while she ignored people like that to put more focus on her career, during her time spent with him, she couldn't resist looking at him as much as she used to with others and decided to give in to it for once. It was like a food lover trying to ignore a buffet. At the end of the day, the urge to surrender to it always wins.

Quiet looked at her own body and, despite not looking it, she was as physically strong as Snake himself. This was demonstrated from that day where she lifted two Diamond Dogs personnel above the ground in each hand. She was even strong enough to overpower those Soviets who imprisoned and tortured her at the palace ruins, but that was only when she was revived by the sunlight. She was able to do the same to Snake when she attacked that infected man with a knife to his mouth. However, she resisted the urge to do that when he arrived and restrained her because, although she disliked being restrained, she did not want to harm him and risk expulsion from the unit. He could have had done that or had her executed for what she was doing then, but he still spared her and kept her with Diamond Dogs and she was grateful he did that.

Although, she was very fit before her treatment. The parasites merely increased her physical abilities.

"Quiet?" Snake asked, shaking her from her thoughts.

"Hmm?" she asked.

"Would you like to see my gym?" he asked.

"I would love that. I wish to test my strength to truly see just how strong I am to be sure." she replied.

"Okay. I'll summon the helicopter again." he said and took out his iDroid, called the chopper in again and put it away and waited.

"Speaking of strength, even though I wasn't there fully to witness it, I heard that you lifted two of my men in each hand without much trouble that one time." he said, also remembering that day. He arrived later when he heard what was going on, so he did not actually see her do that.

"Yes, I, uh, I did do that. But I had no intention of actually harming or killing those people, only to disable them until my task could be complete. I was just trying to safeguard you and this base from that infected man with the Kikongo strain and the pain I caused him was not something I enjoyed doing and no longer do these days. Inside, I hated myself for putting our growing alliance at risk of being broken from what I was doing." Quiet said, trying to resist the upcoming shame building up in her mind from that day. She knew Venom Snake had forgiven her for being his enemy and some of the things she did before they met, but it still bugged her. She also hated the moment of how she swiped her knife at him when he tried to interfere with her task. She only did that to keep him away from the infected man before the Boss himself became infected and died from the infection as originally planned.

"Well, even though it was against base protocol and I didn't take kindly to what happened, I still have to admit that lifting those two single-handedly was rather impressive. Even I couldn't do that myself before I got my bionic arm. I'd have to use both hands to lift someone fully. Speaking of lifting, how much can you lift exactly?" Snake said and asked.

She told him.

"Then I'd like to see you try that at the gym, Quiet." he said.

"You will, Snake. Also, thank you for bringing me here to visit your animal companions. That was really sweet of you. I am unsure if our time spent together on missions counts or not, so just to be sure, I would like to consider our trip here to be our first official date." she said and gave him a quick kiss, blushing while doing so as always.

"I love it when you do that." he said.

"There are plenty more of that in the near-future.

"Do you love it when I kiss you?" he asked, knowing the answer, but wanting to hear her say it.

"Of course, I do. Every day, every waking moment. I have been wanting to kiss you since that day in the rain. I was just too shy and unsure of it then because I was not comfortable of getting too close to you due to my secret agenda." she replied.

"That would have been a perfect moment for a kissing scene like something out of a movie or story and I kinda regret not doing that then, but it still is romantic to do so every day now. As for that last statement, that doesn't matter anymore. You're with us and me now." he said.

"You said it before and it feels good hearing you say it again." she said.

You're an amazing woman, you know that?" he said.

"I do and I am flattered by your comments that describe me as desirable and reformed. Nobody has ever made me feel this loved before aside from my late family years back." she said.

"Well, you have a new one here, Quiet, and you were always desirable. It just took you long to find it and with the right people. Glad you're part of it." he said.

Quiet looked away like a shy girl as her face turned light red.

The two stayed at the helipad, holding hands again as they waited for their ride to come and take them back to the main base.

A couple of minutes later, the helicopter was seen coming toward them. They backed away from the landing pad as it lowered down.

Before it did, Quiet suddenly jumped up, landed on the side and opened the door while the chopper was in mid-air.

She likely did that to impress him.

 _Show-off._ Snake thought humorously.

The chopper landed and Snake entered.

"Usually the expression is 'ladies first' for moments like this." he said to Quiet.

"I suppose that makes you the lady here, then?" Quiet asked with a smirk on her face.

"Ha-ha. Very funny." said Snake, rolling his eye in false annoyance and strapped himself in his seat as Quiet closed the door and also took a seat.

"Departing." said the pilot.

"You really don't have to say that here." said Snake.

"It's a habit I'm afraid, Boss. It's like you carrying those ghost cigars with you everywhere you go. No offense." said the pilot.

Snake looked at himself and realized his pilot had a point.

"Got me there and they're pronounced 'phantom' cigars." said Snake.

"Right. Phantoms and ghosts are kinda the same to me, but the name fits better." said the pilot.

The helicopter flew up and then away from the sanctuary.

"Did you guys enjoy yourselves there?" asked the pilot.

"We did. Take us back to the Command strut, please." said Snake.

"Right away, Boss." sad the pilot.

During the ride, Quiet saw Snake busy with his iDroid and decided to flirt with him. She remembered that a few times on previous rides in the helicopter that he took quick glances at her while she looked away, though he was unaware that she noticed, but faked it as she did not want to ruin those moments.

 _He thought I did not notice him staring at me those past few times. Well, now I shall reward him._ She thought and crossed her legs together while shaking her chest a little to jiggle her breasts.

He took notice and Quiet saw it, much to her planning.

Then she laid on her back and stretched out her arms and hands toward him, letting him get a good look at her body.

"I see you're doing the usual flirting thing you do with me whenever we ride." he said.

Quiet had a look of light shock on her face.

"So, you did notice me after all?" she asked, still laying down and looking at him.

"Yep. Even with your abilities, I still saw you trying to get my attention and you were smiling at me. What? You thought I wouldn't notice?" he asked.

"And they said _I_ was sneaky." Quiet said and she got up and assumed her cat pose position, showing her almost-bare behind to him first before turning around and exposing her back and arms.

 _I never get tired of that._ Snake thought.

 _He never gets tired of that._ Quiet thought.

They soon reached the Command strut minutes later and when they landed, they exited the vehicle with Quiet holding the door open.

"Leaders first." she said.

"Thanks." Snake said.

Since they had no plans on venturing to the other pads, Snake allowed the pilot to take the rest of the day off and said that a replacement pilot would be called in should the need to fly again arise.

"Thanks Boss." said the pilot when he was told this and flew away.

"Now that we are here, where is this gym of yours?" Quiet asked.

"Follow me." Snake said and led her to a spot on the strut that he never showed her after months of living and working together. During her early stay on base, he hardly trusted her enough to show where the base's fitness center was as he was wary of her at first.. As time passed and after having gotten to know her better, he began to consider it until her revelation as a parasite carrier was exposed and he held it off until he was able to clear himself of what he learned about her. Now that Skull Face was dead and his plot was vanquished, she had proven her worth as an honorary Diamond Dog, along with becoming his girlfriend, thus earning her the right.

He turned a corner, entered a sliding door with her right behind him and entered a special-looking room.

"Welcome to the Diamond Dogs Fitness Center, Quiet." Snake said and allowed her to get a glance at the interior in awe.

Inside were lots of exercise equipment all over the place.

Free weights, benches, weight machines, cardio machines, bodyweight stations, an indoor basketball court, a small running track, a climbing simulator device, cardio machines, an indoor pool, a steam room, a spot for private one-on-one training and a small studio for aerobic and dance sessions were present.

To a fitness fanatic, this place was heaven.

Some Diamond Dogs soldiers were using the place and did not notice their leader and his comrade enter.

"What a place!" Quiet said in glee.

One soldier stopped to take a short break and saw them in the gym.

"Boss? Look alive, everyone! The Boss is here!" said that person.

Everyone else stopped their activities and stood in military standing positions upon seeing Venom Snake.

"Welcome Boss!" they said and saluted.

"At ease men . . . and ladies." Snake said, taking notice of some of the women inside besides his date.

Another thing Quiet admired about him was that he had no sexist views toward women. All were welcome into his unit and he treated them just the same, man or woman.

"You, uh, you brought Quiet here, Boss?" one soldier asked in curiosity of seeing the superhuman woman standing beside their leader.

"Yes. She and I are here to use the facility to pass time. I wanted to show her this place after a while of hiding it. She can also speak now without risking any biohazardous outbreaks after going through surgery to repair her, so there's no need for a panic if she says anything." Snake told them since most of the base was still unaware of her parasite being gone. Spreading news like that took time.

"She can talk now?" asked another soldier.

"She was able to the whole time. She just could not speak in English without causing another parasite problem like the previous two as she was infected with a strain that was deadly if she spoke in English." he said.

"It is true. I am free of my parasite and I can speak in your tongue again. However, I still retain my superhuman abilities as they are bound to me forever, not that that is a problem for me. It is a part of me that I happily accept and I also need them to remain alive. I am no longer a danger to any of you." Quiet said to everyone, causing them to gasp and stare. They finally heard the voice of the powerful woman who stayed with them for months while silent.

"When many of you are finished working out here, be sure to spread this news to all inhabitants of this base of what I just told you about her." he said.

"Yes, sir!" they all said.

"Good. In the meantime, you can return to whatever you're doing and tell everyone as soon as you finish. No rush. Quiet and I will join you soon, so just do your routines and no need for special treatment for us. Act like we're regulars like you." said Snake.

"As you wish, Boss!" they said and returned to working out.

"As we were." Snake said to Quiet and they wandered around, looking to see what to do first.

Snake approached a treadmill machine and did some leg stretches before starting it.

"Why perform cardio exercise first?" Quiet asked.

"I always do cardio before lifting as a warm-up. Without it, your muscles will be strained and possibly injured or torn during the routine. I prefer short sessions unless I'm aiming for cardio only." Snake explained.

Realizing he had a point, Quiet joined him on a separate treadmill next to his.

"However, due to my hand injury, weightlifting workouts are going to be kinda hard for me." he said and showed his hand, still fresh from the bite wound he suffered in the desert.

"Oh, I forgot. Your hand is still like that from that cobra bite back in Afghanistan. It is best if you avoid any weightlifting or any heavy exercise for a while until your hand is fully healed." Quiet said and gave his hand a small peck and mentally wished him well on recovery as he sacrificed his hand for her.

"I can actually still perform exercise routines, just not with my bitten hand." he said.

"What about this?" Quiet asked and pointed to his bionic arm.

"It cannot handle too much weight other than lifting a gun, small items and a person, much less punching them in the face. I don't mind skipping workouts that involve my hand. You know, I think I'll just do either cardio full-time or workouts that don't involve my injured hand until my bite wound is gone to be safe." he said.

"Good call. I do not want to see you hurt yourself." she said.

"I won't. Let's do this." he said.

Quiet imitated Snake's stretches and when she finished, she and him got on their respective treadmills and got started.

While Snake jogged on his treadmill at a normal pace, Quiet had her treadmill sped up to match her enhanced speed. This impressed a few soldiers in the gym, including Snake himself despite having seen her speed countless times. Her movements outmatched that of an Olympic runner.

"I bet every marathon runner would be afraid to run alongside her. She'd whoop their asses." said one soldier.

"Same here. I wouldn't want to run against her in a race, that's for sure." said another.

"This'll sound odd, but her running kinda reminds me of that fast bird from those old cartoons. You know, the one who flees from that coyote that tries to kill him all the time with odd gadgets?" said the first soldier.

"Dude, that's messed up right there. I wonder how much money that cartoon coyote blows on those traps of his. I've been wondering that since I watched the show as a kid." said the second one.

"Hell if I know. He probably steals it or something. He's an antagonist, so you get the idea." said someone.

When Quiet had enough of cardio, she stopped the machine and decided it was time to move on to strength training. As she stated to Snake earlier, she wanted to test her strength badly and now was the time to do that.

As for Snake, he remained on the treadmill. He only stopped once to get a drink of water from a water fountain before returning to his workout. However, he also kept an eye on Quiet because, other than watching her for safety, he also wished to see how fit she was.

Quiet saw a few more DD troops at the weight machines, free weights and bodyweight machines and, because she was already warmed up thanks to her time on the treadmill, she put her focus on them now.

She spotted a vacant pull-down machine, approached it, set the weight limit to the highest standard it had available and prepared herself.

The other participants took notice and stopped to stare at her, confused over what she was about to do.

"What the hell is she doing? She can't lift that much by herself. Don't get me wrong, I've seen buff chicks before in magazines and pictures, but she ain't got no muscles other than to move around." said one male soldier.

"I wouldn't bet on that, man. You recall how she lifted two people with one hand each?" said another.

"She did what?" asked the confused man.

"Oh, that's right. You weren't here when that happened. Well, watch and learn." said the other one.

Taking deep breaths, Quiet grabbed the top bar and pulled it down to her chest and raised it back up and repeated. While this may have been strenuous for most people, even powerlifters, the sniper woman was still able to lift with half difficulty that regular people had. She still strained though, just not as much as a regular person without her parasites would because she still had her enhanced strength and athleticism.

While she lifted, the others kept staring with wide eyes and open mouths in disbelief over her performance. Mostly this was the men while the women were amazed and mentally supported Quiet for a certain reason.

"Holy fuck! That's . . . that's fucking amazing!"

"She's lifting that much weight like it's no big deal!"

"I am so fucking jealous right now! Was she a powerlifting competitor before?"

While silent during her workout, Quiet heard everything and enjoyed the praise she got and resumed her performance until she reached her desired rep and stopped and sat there to rest, unmoving at all.

One soldier was so distracted by Quiet's performance that he unconsciously dropped a weight he was holding. It crushed his foot, but he did not seem to notice that.

When Quiet's break was up, she resumed her workout, performing two more sets with the same repetition amount until she had enough and moved on to something else.

She switched to different machines for different workouts and did the same thing with them: lifting and pulling weight that was too difficult for everyone else in the gym. Even the most experienced fitness trainers and lifters inside were in shock at Quiet's physical capabilities and felt embarrassed at the sight. Every type of exercise, she performed them all with success and did not break a sweat as she was unable to as Ocelot described to Snake months ago.

Besides machines, she also used free weights to maximize her movements and work her muscles better than with the machines or if a weight machine she wanted to use was out of service or taken by someone else. Not all of the machines were functional and had to be scheduled for repairs by maintenance.

"And I thought she was better off doing girl push-ups and lightweights when she entered this place." said one soldier.

Quiet heard that and decided to show off her skill even more by approaching a pull-up/chin-up station and performing the movements with one hand and with weights attached to her waist. Heavy weights.

"Daaaayyymmmnnn!" some of the soldiers said while watching her.

When she finished her entire workout routine, she glanced around at the people in the gym and enjoyed having outdone them all with her feats.

Even Snake was impressed as she desired.

 _They are all in awe at what I have done, even him. Just how I wanted._ She thought happily.

"Still believe women aren't as strong as men?" a woman soldier asked the males for kicks.

The men were unable to give an answer as they were lost in thought at what they saw. Even the very muscular ones were embarrassed and jealous at Quiet's talent.

"I would not want to battle her in a wrestling match no matter how much money I'm offered." said one person.

"Yeah, she'd kick your ass big time!" said another.

"She'd kick yours too, ya know." said the previous soldier.

"Good point. I'd like to see her take on every pro wrestler on live television. She'd make history right there." said someone.

"And they said women were inferior when it came to weightlifting." said a woman soldier.

While they all talked among themselves, Quiet went into a glass room and shut the door. When it was silent inside, she sat down and decided to perform some yoga as a way of cooling down and passing time until Venom Snake was finished with his own workout and to rest her body from all that training.

Sometime later, she heard the door open and in stepped the person she was waiting for. Even though she was not looking as she had her eyes closed while posing, she could still tell it was him.

"It is about time you finished. You are, what most people call, a slowpoke." Quiet said while she kept her yoga position in check and also lightly bragging about how fast she finished her workout first before the Diamond Dogs leader.

"You know it was me?" he asked.

"Before you spoke, yes. I do have a 6th sense, you know." she said.

"I can't believe you managed to lift, push and pull that amount of weight and feel no pain like regular people do." said Snake as he sat down next to Quiet to join her. He was not a yoga person, but he liked being next to her anyway and tried to imitate a yoga pose with some difficulty. Unarmed combat was one thing, but this was proving to be tough for him.

"I suppose the phrase, 'no pain, no gain', does not apply to me when it comes to physical exercise. You however . . ." she said and, without looking at Snake, pointed to him who looked exhausted from using his treadmill for an hour without stopping.

"I'm impressed by your strength and, I gotta admit, I am rather kinda jealous." he said.

Quiet gave a light blush from that. The famous, powerful Big Boss, was jealous of her, a crack shot sniper and the first superpowered ally of Diamond Dogs. It was no surprise.

"I told you I was as strong as a professional weightlifter. I was never able to lift that much before my parasite treatment. Look at me now." she said, still keeping her balance.

"How did Skull Face perform his treatment on you, anyway?" Snake asked.

"Believe me, you do not want to know the answer to that question. Let us just say that it was a process I can never forget about. Not even amnesia would keep it from my mind forever as it would return at some point. To be truthful, " she replied with a look of disgust from her memory of what actually happened during her transformation.

"True. Still, you're pretty much the strongest and fastest person among the entire base . . . even more than me. I never thought I would say that." Snake said.

"I know, but I still see you as the superior one here over me because, other than being the leader of this organization, you also bested me in battle a couple of times. I was at full strength and you still defeated me and that is rather impressive. Besides, I lack leadership skill anyway, powers or not, and I find it to be mentally exhausting to lead a large organization such as this one, which is why I see you as superior when it comes to leadership." she said.

"You have no idea. Leadership has its ups and downs, I admit. But I'm used to it. You have the strength and I have the smarts. That's what makes an organization strong." he said.

"Plus, despite my abilities, I still have my own limitations when it comes to fast or heavy movements. I can still be depleted of energy whenever I exert myself to the fullest and I still cannot move objects that are beyond human limitations that require machinery to do so such as lifting buildings. I cannot create shockwaves by clapping my hands or fly without a helicopter or plane." she said.

"Of all your abilities, the only one you lack is the ability to fly?" Snake asked as a joke.

Quiet smirked at that and realized what he meant.

"I am not like that popular alien superhero with a large 'S' on his uniform, that silly red-headed Swedish girl whose last name comes from her own leg wear or that American scientist who can morph into a large, green giant whenever he feels anger or fear, you know! Yes, I have read comic books back when I was encased in my cell on the medical platform on days when you were absent. They were absurd to me before, but at the time, it was either them or boredom and even I have no immunity to boredom." she said.

"If only you had a cape, you'd be good to go." he said and could not help but laugh at his own words and Quiet joined in, ending her yoga pose.

"I think I'm going to head for the sauna to relax myself." he said when he finished, wiping a tear from his eye.

"Can I come with you?" she asked, also wiping stinging tears from her face.

"I haven't exactly seen you in a sauna before. Being in rain weather and being in a moist room are different things. Can you handle that?" he asked.

Quiet thought about this. It has been years since she was inside a sauna room. She entered one during one past mission to find and kill someone who was using a room like that. This was before her treatment and she has not entered any steam rooms since because she was unsure if that would be harmful to her as underwater submergence was, especially after what happened at that palace in Afghanistan. That warm shower she took in Snake's headquarters was one thing. Skull Face would probably know the answer to that mystery since he was the one who rebuilt her with his parasite therapy. But he never told her and he was deceased now and the answer died with him and she was left to find out for herself. Unable to resist, she chose to accompany him to this sauna room and see if she could be around steam. Snake would rush her to the base's emergency room if she began to show any illness-like symptoms and

"I am not sure. I have not been inside a sauna room since my therapy and restoration. But I now want to know if I can, so I will join you." she said.

"You don't know? Did Skull Face tell you if you can or not? I'm only saying this to ensure that what happened to you from the chemical and palace incidents never repeat themselves." he asked.

"He never told me and if he knew, that died with him when you defeated his walking tank device. My only option to learn for sure is to experience it in person and today is the perfect day for that. It is risky, but I must know for certain." she said.

Snake gave in.

"Okay, follow me." he said and he and her got up and went to where the steam room was at.

Before doing that, Snake went to a dressing room to remove his gear and suit, wearing nothing but a pair of shorts with the Diamond Dogs logo on it. It was customary for all on base to wear clothing with their logo and name. The only people who never wore such things were Ocelot, Code Talker, Quiet and Huey Emmerich.

Ocelot, because he felt no need to as he was very recognizable to all staff besides Snake and Miller.

Code Talker, because he had no desire to wear it despite his total allegiance to the organization.

Quiet, because nobody had made any logos for her to wear. She considered it, though.

Huey Emmerich, because of his obvious barbaric nature and exclusion from the list of members. That, and that he made no request for Diamond Dogs clothing. However, the only closest item he had with their name and image on it was a coffee mug with the logo on one side and the words "I 'Heart' DD" written on the other side. That was merely a ruse to keep his true self hidden from everyone and it was disposed of afterwards despite there being plenty of mugs like that. It was just a reminder of him that the base had no need for.

Since Quiet was wearing her usual attire, she had no need for a towel, but she took one anyway just in case.

"This way." Snake said and Quiet followed him.

They passed by the swimming pool. Snake had no intention of using it for now because he felt the chlorine might bring harm to his bite wound and make it worse.

As for Quiet, that was a question that needed no answer to.

As soon as they entered, they found nobody else inside. It was just them.

Snake found a spot and sat down while Quiet took a look around the sauna room to familiarize herself with the place.

To her surprise and amazement, the sauna's air did not harm her at all. It actually felt rather good on her bare skin and she did not feel any struggle to breathe.

"How do you feel about being in here?" Snake asked as he prepared for his session inside.

"I feel fine. The surrounding smoke has no ill effects on my skin whatsoever." she replied.

"Good. Then we'll stay in here for . . . at least until we grow bored of it and want to leave." Snake said.

"Fine by me as long as I am with you." Quiet said.

The two sat down on the sauna benches and remained there and let the room's steam overpower them with relaxation.

For their entire stay in there, Snake and Quiet enjoyed themselves inside the room. No one entered and interrupted. It was just them.

Quiet placed her towel on her seat and laid down on it and let the steam engulf her everywhere. She even unhooked her bra again and let it slide down to the floor and rid herself of most of her clothing and hair scrunchie, leaving her in nothing but her panties. While she refused to undress in front of anyone, Snake was her only exception for a certain reason and did not mind him looking at her like this as she was used to it and wanted him to look.

The moist heat felt very good to her. She never got this kind of joyful treatment back in XOF. Not even Skull Face offered something like this to her. All she and the others did there was train and learn to fight and kill and were fed speeches on discipline and stealth. The elimination of targets and completing mission objectives were the only "rewards" they got and when they finished, they would head for their bunkers and fall asleep and wake up later for another mission and repeat the cycle.

Now she had the opportunity to enjoy everything her old faction never had and mentally thanked whatever deity or controller of fate there was out there for granting her this new life she had with her new romantic partner.

She wondered if her parents would have disapproved of her time with XOF and praised her for defecting to their opponents. Most likely since they were never the violent type and discouraged her from engaging in violence when she lived with them.

 _Mother and father would have hated XOF to the fullest if they knew about them and saw what I have done with them. Life as a brutal assassin was not what they would have wanted out of me, but I believe they would have praised my decision to aid Diamond Dogs in fighting for a world free of people like Skull Face. If they are watching me right now in spirit form, I hope they can forgive me for my past choices as a black ops killer._ She thought.

She looked at Snake and saw him relaxed and napping in his seat.

She smiled and resumed her own relaxation and soon, she too dozed off. She still remained ready to act if anyone else were to barge inside and see her naked.

When they have had enough of the sauna, the two got up, got dressed and left the room and the gym. By then, it was reaching sundown and Snake wanted to do something else outside of the gym.

"Where to, next?" asked Quiet.

Snake was about to answer her question when his stomach began to make rumbling noises.

"I see you are hungry and must eat." she said.

"That about sums it up." he said, embarrassed of his stomach rumbling in front of his girlfriend.

"I can sense that you are having feelings of embarrassment over this. There is nothing wrong with that sound. It is natural and tells you when you must eat something. At least you can feel it unlike I. Again, I am not angry at you for that any longer, remember?" said Quiet to stop Snake from feeling guilty again for her injuries.

Snake then thought of something clever. Something he believed would be wonderful for both him and her.

"I'm gonna go fetch us some dinner at the mess hall. But while I'm doing that, can you head over to the second landing pad above us and wait for me there?" he said.

"Why?" she asked.

"I was thinking that we can have dinner under the stars when the sun goes down. I feel it's better than sitting inside a messy cafeteria all night." he suggested.

Quiet beamed up a smile at that and embraced the idea. She hardly had time for that with XOF and while she spent more than a day outdoors during missions, she only ate alone. She liked that then, now she wanted to share it with someone and that someone was standing next to her.

"Alright. Go get your food while I head for the pad. I will see you there." she said and started to dash, jump and climb her way to the top of the strut like she would move during missions.

Now that she was part of an organization again, this time an organization that was right for her, she wanted to spend as much time as possible with the legendary Big Boss. She lost so much long before joining XOF and Diamond Dogs, especially her loved ones and neighbors from her childhood, and she almost lost Venom Snake at the palace ruins because of her own decision based on her fears. She refused to go through that pain again. She refused to lose the man who saved her and loved her as she did with him and the organization that now felt like home.

Snake made it to the cafeteria, got his meal, which consisted of a thermos full of soup along with a can of soda for himself and a water bottle for Quiet.

As he moved about to catch up with Quiet, he heard three of his soldiers talking to each other and he could not help but listen.

They seemed to be speaking about movie culture.

"Did you guys hear about that new movie that came out a while ago?"

"Which one?"

"The one about four men who hunt and trap ghosts for a living?"

"Oh, that? Yeah, I've heard of it, but I never saw it. I mean, how can we when we're out here in the middle of the ocean and no access to a theater?"

"Beats me. Maybe we can send someone to 'borrow' a copy of that movie via its reel whenever possible? We have a few projectors which were used when we watched Diamond Dogs training footage upon arriving here."

"Sure, I hope. We can't go back to America in search of a reel of film and entertainment. Can we?"

"No. We can accept pay jobs from them, but I'm fine where I'm at today.

"Same here."

"Me too."

"I'm interested in seeing another movie that came out a couple years back. It's about a Vietnam war hero who fights rogue cops in a Colorado town. He was a Green Beret or something and those cops were hardly a match for him. That movie stars the same actor from those popular boxing movies."

"I love those films! Before I came here and my situation back in Afghanistan, I used to watch them a lot during my spare time. I even took some boxing lessons after watching them. I grew obsessed with it for a while until duty called for my deployment. I hope we have those films around here on reel or whatnot. Perhaps we can get them here, too."

"I hear that. Plus, speaking of hearing, I heard there's a fourth one coming soon next year along with a sequel to that other movie about the Vietnam vet you mentioned a minute ago. I envy all who will get to see them before us."

"I wonder if they'll make more movies about that serial killer with the white mask. You know, the guy who killed his own sister on a Halloween night as a child back in 1963 and stalked a teenage girl 15 years later on the same holiday with a kitchen knife? They've made two sequels and while the second installment was good, I gotta say, with complete honesty, that the third movie was total horseshit on a bun. Blech!"

"Oh, those ones? Yeah, they scared the hell out of me when I first saw them. The second one revealed that the killer and the girl from the first film were siblings. That scene in the movie where she shot him in the eyes with a handgun and made him bleed out . . . that had to fucking hurt and he still tried to kill her! I also saw that third one once while I was on break from my previous job and I agree with what you said about it being utter crap. Why make a movie that has a complete change of events with no involvement of characters or events from previous films and yet use its title in it? That's like making a Dracula movie without the Count himself in it. That ain't right and whoever's bright idea it was to make that god-awful, horrid excuse for a horror movie should go to jail for it. I hope they make a real sequel film that makes amends for that stupid third installment in the series. What a fucking joke it was."

"Kudos to that. I saw that too and I was also annoyed at the plot and felt I wasted my money for nothing. I sure feel sorry for every other sucker who blew their hard-earned cash to see it only to be disappointed in the end.

"Perhaps it _was_ a horror movie."

"What makes you say that?"

"It sucking so badly and performing poorly in the box office _is_ the real horror. I hope they don't repeat that with those other scary movies about that other masked killer. You know, the one wearing a hockey-mask? I really love watching them. I heard a fourth one was just released a few months back."

"I know what films you're describing. Well, you won't have to worry about that new movie being good or bad because it's said to be the last one in its franchise."

"What?"

"Yeah. That new movie with the popular hockey-masked killer is going to be their last one. They said they're calling it quits after that and won't be doing anymore of 'em."

"Oh, that sucks."

"I know. I wonder why they decided to cancel the franchise after it was getting good. They make good films there."

"Perhaps it's a publicity stunt to draw in more viewers and will make more money at the box office eventually. Or it could be that they've run out of ideas for future installments."

"You think?"

"Absolutely. I ain't no psychic, but I have a gut feeling that the new movie isn't going to be their last one ever. I'm certain they'll make another one and more in the future."

"I hope you're right. I'd hate for my favorite movie franchise to end so fast just when it was getting popular."

"Same here for those films with the other masked maniac with the knife. Well, better get back to my shift. Don't want the boss to think I'm lazy."

"Me too. Miller'd probably yell his lungs out at us for that as he's done in the past. But that's the way he is."

"See you guys later."

The group disbanded and Snake knew he still had more to catch up on modern pop culture because he had absolutely no idea what those soldiers were talking about. He hardly had time for movies and other forms of pop culture before and after his coma.

He later made his way to the upper helipad where he sent Quiet to. He did not see her anywhere, but he also knew she was there as it was obvious.

 _She's invisible again. I used to hate that at first, but now I like it when she does that._ Snake thought.

"I'm here." he called out, not needing thermal goggles to know she was around here somewhere.

Right on cue, Quiet suddenly uncloaked herself before him.

"Boo!" she said playfully, hoping he would flinch.

He did not flinch.

"Trying to scare me, huh?" Snake asked.

"No. I only vanished to keep my approach here a secret from the others. I wanted this moment to be a private matter. It is no fun when others get involved. Although, I was kind of hoping to see you flinch from my vanishing act." Quiet replied.

"Oh, well that works too." said Snake.

"You were right. It is better up here than in the cafeteria." said Quiet.

"I told you so." he said and held up his items to her.

"You brought water for me?" she asked.

"Yeah. What else are you going to consume from there?" Snake asked.

"Good point." said Quiet. She put her water bottle aside to save for later. She wanted to cherish the moment like a group of people waiting for a guest of honor to arrive to a celebration intended for them.

"What do you have there?" she asked about the thermos.

"It contains some soup I got. I figured that I should have a liquid-based meal alongside you." he said.

"Alright. Let us begin our dinner date." she said.

Snake grinned at that part. Technically, she was right about what they were doing. Sitting under the night stars alone together and having some consumables. That was the definition of a date and they each had consumables, so it was what she called it.

Like Quiet, Snake also decided to save his soup for nightfall rather than consuming it now to make it special.

They remained there until the sun had set and the night began, the sun gone and replaced by the moons and stars.

"They are lovely." Quiet said.

"Yeah, they are. I hardly had time to do stuff like what we did today. It's been like that for a long time. My coma doesn't count." Snake said.

"You were busy, were you? Missions and the sort?" Quiet asked.

"Yep." he said.

Now wanting to eat, he grabbed his thermos, opened it and took a sip of the soup inside. It tasted good.

Seeing that, Quiet grabbed her water bottle, opened it and poured its contents on herself and felt her parasites coming up to absorb the water.

Snake just stood there and watched it happen. Quiet remained still as she became immobile whenever she drank through her skin.

When she finished, she turned her head and saw Snake looking at her.

"Does that disturb you?" she asked, wondering if the sound of her parasites feeding was disgusting to hear. It was like the sound a monster from a 1950's movie made when eating something or someone.

"Not one bit. It's supposed to sound like that when you're feeding and you have to have water once in a while. It means you're healthy and there's nothing wrong or disgusting about it." he told her.

"Good. While I am grateful for my parasites keeping me alive, the only thing about them that I find to be disturbing is that they were given to me by one of the most vile people to have ever walked the Earth." she said.

"Skull Face?" he asked even though he already knew the answer.

"Yes. He could have left me to die that night at Cyprus as he was known for doing to those who failed him, but he saved my life when I was badly injured and near death. That is something I can never forget or deny, but I still dislike the fact that he was the one, of all people, to have planted the parasites and my abilities into me. Now, I wish it were someone of pure virtue who had done the procedure instead of him, like Code Talker. I am embarrassed at the idea of me being a product and weapon by Skull Face." she explained.

"Well, he's dead now. We don't have to worry about him or his language parasites anymore." Snake told her.

"Good thing you got rid of him. One less murderous bastard to worry about." she said.

"Indeed. I avenged all who perished at his hands." said Snake who took another sip of his soup.

After a while of silence, Snake decided to ask Quiet something personal.

"Hey, you mind me asking you a few questions about you? You know, to allow me to know you better now that we're together?" Snake asked.

"Go right ahead. I do not mind." she said.

"Alright. What is your date of birth?" he asked.

"August 5th, 1958." she answered.

 _1958? She was a little girl when I performed my 'Snake Eater' mission, about 5 or 6 years old. That makes her 26 years old now and her birthday is almost here._ Snake thought.

"Where were you born?" he asked.

Roermond, Limburg, Netherlands." she said.

"Netherlands? You're Dutch?" he asked.

"Yes." she said.

"I always thought you were American or a rogue Russian." he said.

"Most people back at XOF thought the same thing when they first met me, but no. I am a Dutch woman. Although if those Soviet soldiers I killed were also Dutch like me, I still would have killed them for how they treated me nonetheless. Dutch, Russian, whatever their nationality, nobody, no matter what they are, does that to me and lives." she said while rubbing her hand.

"Aside from your late parents, do you have any other relatives?" he asked.

"No. They were all I had before I turned to military life. I was an only child. No siblings. I am currently all that is left of them." she admitted.

"What is your name? Your real name? I say this because I think your codename is odd now that you can speak again. 'Quiet' doesn't seem to be a fit name for someone who talks. That's like someone ordering a vegetarian food item with meat in it. That makes no sense and neither does calling a talkative person a title that refers to silence. No offense." he said after realizing her situation.

She knew he had a point about her codename. Now that she was able to speak once more, there was no need to be referred to as her current moniker. It truly did made no sense anymore. Besides, she did not choose the name, nor did Skull Face. It was what the Soviets bestowed on her when she began stalking and killing them around Afghanistan, as ordered by Skull Face himself, during the development of the Sahelanthropus weapon Snake would later destroy, capture and lose.

Since she was among friends now and being his trusted lover, Quiet agreed to let him know at long last. Skull Face was the only one who knew her real name and now, Snake here was going to know it too.

"None taken. As for my real name . . ." she said and told him what it was.

"Really? I thought you'd have a Dutch-sounding name to match your nationality. But it suits you perfectly." said Snake when it learned it.

"Thank you and I do agree that perhaps I should have a different code name now that I can talk again. I will think of one later." she said.

"How'd you come up with 'Quiet', anyway? Did Skull Face give it to you?" he asked.

"No. The Soviets named me that because of my silent nature during my time in Afghanistan and it stuck with me since then. As for my name, I agree that it does not sound Dutch, but that is what my parents named me. It sounds more American, Greek or German. Some at XOF even thought I was the latter two." she said.

"You have a last name?" he asked.

"I do not remember it. It has been so long since I knew or have heard anyone else say it and I seem to have forgotten it over the years. Perhaps it is better this way. I would rather keep what I have now that risk remembering something I might regret remembering later. I do not wish to remember my surname in case it revives bad memories and causes me to relapse or something like that." she replied.

"Okay. Since you say you're Dutch, do you speak it?" he asked.

"The language? Yes, but not a lot. While I was born and partly raised in the Netherlands, my Dutch is not as advanced as my English due to what I told you of what happened to me as a child. I left my home afterwards with no goal planned. I was wandering aimlessly wherever possible. I stole to survive and evaded arrest by any and all authority figures that spotted me. One day, Skull Face found me and he took me in to begin the cruel life as an assassin for him and I did not bother to learn more of it as the years went by as it would remind me of the tragedy that I suffered and focused on improving myself. I remembered basic Dutch words, but nothing else. Words above those levels are unknown to me. My Dutch level is like the basic mathematics children are taught in elementary schools and the advanced Dutch that I do not know is like the mathematics taught in colleges and universities." she said.

"Well, now that you're here and have come to terms with yourself, you can take Dutch lessons to improve your skill of it. We have books and tapes that teach languages and there's Dutch speakers on base who can offer you lessons if you'd like." Snake offered.

Quiet stopped and thought about it. She refused to learn more Dutch before because of her past as she just told Snake, but since she had chosen to move forward with her new life as a Diamond Dog and a companion of the legendary Big Boss, she figured that perhaps she should enhance her Dutch-speaking skills now as a means of honoring her slain parents and friends who were killed by those raiders all those years ago. Nobody and nothing was holding her back anymore and she had all the time in the world to learn it or do whatever else she desired without restraint.

She found it funny that she was being offered to be taught to further speak the very language she was born and raised into. She was not from any English-speaking nations or a Navajo-speaking tribe and yet she mastered those languages more than her mother tongue. This was embarrassing to her, and so she decided to take his offer on Dutch language training to further embrace her national roots.

"Very well. I will accept your offer to advance my Dutch-speaking ability. It is my birth language, after all, and I do find it utterly embarrassing that I know little of it than English and Navajo, two languages of which are outside my heritage." she said.

"Okay. I'll help find a teacher for you or books that teach it later on. Speaking of Navajo, how did you learn that and why?" Snake asked.

"I learned it back when Code Talker was a captive of XOF. I thought English was the only language he could speak as he spoke it often during his conversations with Skull Face or his soldiers. I was proven wrong when one day, when I was about to prepare for my next assignment, I accidentally eavesdropped on him. He was alone in a room and he chanted a prayer in Navajo and he had no idea I was listening in, or perhaps he did and I was unaware of it. Anyway, curiosity washed over me and I decided to pick up on the language because I found it interesting. I never thought you would bring him here like you did with me, although unlike Code Talker, I wanted you to bring me here at first to execute Skull Face's plan at the time. It is a good thing I learned Navajo otherwise I never would have been able to speak to Code Talker that way after my . . . interrogation." she said.

Again, Snake drove that memory out of his mind to focus on the here and now.

"Were you really going to kill yourself when I defeated you in our second battle in Afghanistan?" he asked.

Quiet remembered her suicide attempt when Snake refused to kill her after taking her down at those ruins. However, there was a short story behind that moment and she was about to share it with him.

"While my pistol was loaded that time, I had no intention of actually using it to kill myself at all. As you know, I was instructed to let you capture me. I let you win for this to be possible and when I lost, I faked my suicide attempt to get you to react and restrain me as part of the plan. My gun had its safety on the whole time, so it would never fire anyway, loaded or not. Had you refused to stop me from pulling the trigger-" she replied until he spoke up randomly.

"Wait, your gun's safety was on? It wouldn't fire at all?" he asked quickly.

"Correct. you were supposed to stop me. I cannot imagine how it would have been had you refused or worse, if you killed me yourself. While I was semi-unconscious on the hot ground, I was also aware of you aiming your own gun at me." she answered.

Snake then remembered taking the pistol from her, but he never bothered to examine it later upon his return to Mother Base with his captive. Had he done that, he would have discovered the gun's safety mechanism being on and he would have learned about her suicide attempt being false and be one step closer to figuring out her intentions.

 _Of course._ He thought, being lightly embarrassed for not checking the gun in the first place. He was not sure if that would have been good or bad. He also mentally shuddered at the thought of complying with Miller's demand to shoot and kill her there.

That would have been a grave mistake and he was glad he selected Ocelot's plea of bringing her to the base over Miller's plea to finish her off.

"Did you help in Code Talker's capture and detainment by XOF?" he asked, getting back to the topic.

"No. His capture was without my involvement. I was doing something else at the time, I cannot remember what it was. I did not know why Skull Face wanted him at first until I later discovered his link to the vocal parasites, leading up to the events of the past few months." she said.

"How did you learn English? I can already take a guess of how you learned to speak it, but I'd like to hear your side anyway." he said.

"I learned it from spending a lot of time with its speakers. It sounded alien to me at first and I was sometimes harassed by fellow XOF members for not knowing it during my rookie days in the unit. Skull Face gave me translation books and tapes to read and listen to and I sometimes picked up conversations from my squadmates as part of my English training. Slowly, one day at a time, I learned the language and within a couple of years, I had mastered it to the fullest and it allowed me to fully blend in among them. That is why my English is better than my Dutch as I spent less time on the latter." she replied.

"That explains it. Oh, that reminds me. There's something you should know about Miller." he said.

"What about him? He hates me." she said.

"He told me something during your surgery." he said.

"What?" she asked, prepared to dismiss whatever usual negative comments she felt the beret-wearing man had about her like always.

"He said he's alright with having you on our base. He no longer feels any feelings of hatred and persecution toward you and is now welcoming you as a member of Diamond Dogs." he told her.

The woman was surprised at this. Kazuhira Miller, the man who hated her and insulted her whenever he could, as well as performed torture interrogation on her after finding out about her strain, was actually becoming accepting of her?

"So he now refers me as a fellow Diamond Dog? He no longer sees me as something that needs to be eliminated or a mistake of nature?" she asked, recalling the time Miller addressed her as a "thing" and how angry it made her. If not for Snake's influence, she would have retaliated against him for his comment.

"Correct. He's not aggressive to you anymore. He even wished you well on your recovery during your operation. He must have realized how unfair he was with you and now, he's more open to having you aboard our base. You managed to finally win him over at long last. Even I thought it was not possible, but it is now." he answered.

She was unsure how to feel about this because it was so sudden. She should be happy that she won the friendship of one of the Big 3 of Diamond Dogs and the most verbally brutal of all, but she was unable to feel that for some strange reason. Perhaps it was because Miller, unlike Snake, gave her a very hard time during her stay on Mother Base and was not afraid to show it at all, even in front of the Boss himself. She believed that another reason for his hostile behavior toward her was because he wanted to enrage her enough to push her into doing something he can use to justify his desire of expelling her from the group or even execution. She had to endure it all and restrain herself from lashing out in order to gain Venom Snake's favor and it finally paid off.

"Are you certain he said that? It does not sound like him at all. He usually scowls, groans and insults people who come from places and organizations he hates very much and I am proof of that." she asked.

"He did say those things and behave like that, but he's gotten over you coming from Cipher due to how you played a part in taking them down and he considers you the most powerful member of Diamond Dogs. I believe he will want to talk you whenever you or he requests it. But why don't you wait until I find out from him to be sure." he said.

She was now glad for the news. No more insults. No more torture. No more accusations of still having allegiance to Cipher and wanting to destroy Diamond Dogs and Snake himself from within. As usual, she did not blame him for his hatred of her due to whatever Cipher did to him and her former membership with the unit they were against. How could she? Like with his hatred of Cipher, she previously had hatred for Diamond Dogs and its leader for what happened to her after the hospital raid, but she never retaliated against them for that when she could at any moment and now she loved being one of them.

"Another thing you should know about me is that I had an interest in Japanese culture when I was younger." she told him.

"You love Japanese culture?" he asked.

"Yes. I loved it when I as a child and I kinda still do today. I even thought about visiting Japan or even living there one day when I got older. But, other than the tragedy that befell my hometown, my duties in XOF prevented me from achieving it." she said.

"Well, perhaps one day you can travel there now that you're free from XOF." Snake said.

"How can I do that? Other than here and when I am on missions with you, I cannot travel anywhere in the outside world because of my appearance." she said and pointed to her own uniform to confirm her point to him. "If I did venture out there like this, people will believe I am causing public disruption with my outfit and will try to have me arrested and jailed. The only places where I can be among society like this are beaches, swimming pools or places where nudity, or near-nudity, is acceptable and legal." she said.

Snake realized she made a point. Traveling and socializing required wearing clothes and this woman was no longer able to do that without the risk of suffocation and death like she experienced in Afghanistan. Travel for pleasure was not an option for her now because of her current status.

"Perhaps we can eventually develop something that can cover you, but at the same time, still enable you to breathe and use your abilities without suffocation. Just a thought. It may not be possible, but you never know what's possible to create with our resources and technology." he said.

"Maybe. I sure hope it can be possible to create breathable clothing for me one day. I sort of do miss wearing clothes that covers me all over and not just military-style clothing." she said and looked at herself. If she walked into a town or city that made people uncomfortable at the sight of her attire, that would immediately change into a big problem for her. Police would hunt her down and take her away for indecent exposure or something like that.

"I hope so, too. Staying on this base 24/7 must be burdensome for you sometimes." he said.

The woman's eyes lit up in worry.

"Oh, no. I feel no burden from this base. I love being here and I never want to leave again in the future. I just do not take kindly to being imprisoned for long periods of time or for stupid reasons and causes that I had no involvement with." she replied.

"I see that. Being locked away from society for a long time would drive most people insane." Snake said.

"Indeed, it would. Without you, I would have been driven insane from being locked in that cell in the Medical Bay and I probably would have unleashed Skull Face's plot to wipe you all out to relive my suffering." she said.

"That would be awful. Now let's get back to learning about you." Snake said.

"As you wish." she said.

"Since you say you're skilled at basic Dutch words, let me hear you speak a sentence in Dutch. It can be anything." Snake said.

"Alright. Let me see." she said and said something in Dutch.

"What does that mean?" he asked when she finished.

"It means 'I love you'." she said and kissed him again.

After a moment of gazing into the stars some more, it was now her turn to ask him about his own background. It was only fair.

"My turn to ask you personal questions. Despite reading and hearing a lot about you before we met, because of our new alliance and relationship, I wish to know you all over again just to be certain that my knowledge of you is right or wrong." she said.

"Go right ahead." he said.

"What is the date of your birth?" she asked.

He told her.

As she already knew, the man was in his early 50's and yet, he was still able to outfight every enemy that he had faced before and after Diamond Dogs' formation. Not everyone who is of old age is weak and useless as many come to believe. She was a young woman with superhuman abilities and she still lost to this man, a powerless individual, a couple of times. A normal person like him taking down a super-powered individual like her was impressive to most folks, even her.

Shaking that out of her head, she resumed her questioning.

"Where were you born?" she asked.

"United States." he answered.

"You have a liking to a culture outside of your own like I do?" she asked.

"No. I'm too busy to have something like that. Guns, conflict and victory are all I know.

"Same with me. It's like they were my parents or something." she said before resuming her questioning.

"What languages do you know besides English?" she asked.

He told her.

"However, some of the languages I knew before were erased from my memories because . . ." he said and pointed to the shrapnel horn on his head to make his point.

"Oh. That was why you captured language interpreters during missions? You forgot what languages you used to know." she asked.

"Yep. I'm still re-learning them even now." he said.

"Well, I am sure you will succeed in that as I hope to succeed with learning advanced Dutch." she said.

"Thanks." he said.

"Do you have any family?" she asked.

"I'm not sure. I was too focused on other things as a young man to remember my relatives. I'm not even sure if they're alive or dead nowadays. I can't even remember much about my own parents. I bet they went through a lot of hell during the Great Depression years. For now, the only 'relatives' I can think of are my 'sons' who are actually clones of mine created from a project. I thought Eli was one of them, but, as stated before, Eli is not one of them as I believed. I've mistaken him for my copy. I was so certain he was one of my clones after having him on base, but a DNA test proved otherwise. I'm not sure where my real offspring is or if he even wants anything to do with me." he said.

"Do you have another clone of yours out there?" Quiet asked.

"I do, but I'm not certain where that one is right now. Whoever he is, I sure hope he's not like Eli when it comes to behavior. Eli may not be my son, but still, one spoiled child was enough. Two? That's madness. Even I get headaches from thinking about it. It's so confusing. Still, I don't wish him dead no matter what." he said.

"At least you got to know what having a child in your life was like, even if he was not yours. I hope I did not sound offensive with my comment." she said.

"You didn't offend me. You merely stated a fact about Eli and you're right about it." he said.

Quiet let him soak on that for a moment before continuing.

"Since I have told you my real name, would you care to tell me yours? It is only fair. I promise to never reveal it to anyone, friend or foe, as that would put you in harm's way and I do not wish for that to happen at all. I would not be able to live with myself if that were to ever happen." she told him, something she meant very dearly.

Normally, Snake would avoid mentioning his real name to anyone he came across with. The only exceptions, the only ones who knew his real name were Miller and Ocelot. That was the whole purpose of carrying a code name as everyone else did on Mother Base. They were meant to further guard their personal lives from their enemies and the consequences of the revelations, should their real names be exposed to the world, would be extremely dire.

But the woman he was with, the woman sitting beside him asking him for this vital information, the person who fought alongside him ever since being brought to this base and worked hard to earn his forgiveness, respect and eventually his love for her, was someone that the legendary man vowed to guard and cherish, even going so far as to risking life and death to save her when she wandered away from the base due to believing she was too risky to keep around after the two outbreaks that cost half of the base's personnel.

 _The hell with it. She deserves to know after all she's done for me. We're a couple, now._ He thought and made his decision.

He told her.

"Really?" she asked when she learned his name.

"Yeah. I sometimes went by other names besides 'Snake' or 'Boss' such as 'Jack', 'Vic Boss' and, as you've heard recently, 'Ahab', like the Moby Dick book, minus the giant whale, although you can probably count Skull Face as the metaphorical whale." he said and he and Quiet laughed at the joke before he turned serious again. "But, yeah, that is my real name and you are the first person that I've told besides Miller and Ocelot." he said.

She was wide-eyed from finally hearing the real name of the man she formerly hated and currently loved.

"It suits you. People back at XOF used to spread stories about your identity. They believed that your real name was either 'David' or 'Kiefer', but I disbelieved those rumors as I am one of those people who refuse to believe something without evidence. I prefer to withhold my judgement of someone or something until I am truly certain of all the facts. Embarrassment is one of the last things I want if I were to be proven wrong about something I was so sure about." she told him.

"Really? They thought those were my names?" he asked, mostly about the names she mentioned.

"Correct." she said.

"Those are stupid names for me." he said.

"I know. I too thought they were ridiculous. You just proved them wrong and I am glad I did not believe those names they thought of you or I would be embarrassed by it too." she said.

"That's good to hear." he said.

"How long have you been doing this kind of work?" she asked.

He told her more of his background.

She had heard some of these events in stories she was told when she began her career in XOF. She did not expect a few of them to be true and to be merely rumors. Most of it was impressive to her.

Snake also told her that one of the events from his past granted him permanent male infertility, meaning he can never have biological offspring of his own with anyone at all and that adoption and cloning were the only options he had of passing on another generation of himself even though he was uninterested in that as he was no family man. He told her, from start to finish, about the "Les Enfants Terribles" project, what it was about and why he disliked it later in life. He was unsure if his lover knew about it or not, but felt the need to explain anyway out of a gut feeling and he did.

 _So that is how his cloned sons came to be. Too bad Eli was not one of them as he had thought._ She thought when he finished telling her.

Quiet knew how Snake felt about being unable to reproduce naturally as she too was infertile. However, unlike with how Snake became that, Quiet was infertile way before her immolation and transformation, meaning that, before she got her abilities, she always lacked the ability to have biological children of her own from the beginning and even if this was not the case and she was able to conceive and have kids, she still would have refused because, despite her care for a child's well-being as demonstrated with those child soldiers, she was not the motherly type anyway. Like with Snake, parenthood was not for her.

"Neither could I." she whispered, not realizing that she said it loud enough for him to hear.

"What?" he asked.

Realizing what she had just said, Quiet decided to tell him of her own infertility, which was something her previous medical examinations on base failed to detect, and Snake, despite not wanting to be a parent himself, felt bad for her.

"Not everyone is meant to be a parent and I am one of them, figuratively and literally. It was never in my nature before my treatment and I am alright with it now. It does not scare me whatsoever." she explained.

 _She's got me there. I am the same thing as her. Parenting doesn't suit me well either. Besides, even if Eli was my cloned offspring, his deep hatred of me was because he thought I was his father. There's no point in hating someone who is not really your relative. Will he feel highly stupid if he finds out we're not related?_ He thought.

"How did you learn you were infertile?" he asked.

"XOF. See, like with all military units worldwide, all new recruits were required to undergo medical examinations to determine if service within the unit was possible for them. The doctor who examined me, when I first joined them, discovered my issue by mistake and, although surprised because I was also unaware of it myself for years, I did not care. Nothing but shedding blood and getting paid for my services were all that mattered to me then. Now . . . well, I can get by with that kind of knowledge. My infertility does not worry me at all as I do not embrace the idea of being a mother to anyone. Not that I despise it, it is merely not for me." she said.

"But you still cared about rescuing those child soldier kids and keeping them safe?" Snake asked.

"I did and I still do regardless of what they have done months ago. Just because I cannot have my own children and distanced myself from every having them does not mean I dislike them in any way. I really did wish to have helped those kids, betrayal or not. I did not enjoy their suffering one bit because it mirrored what I went through as a child myself as I told you the other night. I admit that there were some missions in XOF that involved the slaying of children whom my old unit deemed a threat to their operations and even I, a black ops soldier who killed lots of people without hesitation, had a problem with that and still do while my XOF comrades did those things without question." said Quiet.

"XOF killed children?" Snake asked and Quiet had a look of regret on her face.

"Yes. They did not force children into their service like the ones in Africa were. It was barbaric even for me when I was employed with them and it still is to me today. Whatever their targets were, man, woman or even child, a job was still a job to my old unit and they did not care what their victims were as long as they accomplished their task and earned their payment. When I was ordered to be deployed in those kinds of missions without being told who my targets were and I discovered that kids or pregnant women were who we were sent to kill, it made me want to hurt all who accepted the job with no sense of well-being for children. I only accepted those kind of missions so that I may do something about whatever happens to them. I would sometimes see bodies of children or pregnant women already dead and I was too late to stop their deaths, which sickened me. At other times, when I was in time to see my unit about to go for the kill on families still alive, I would slaughter my teammates as quickly as I can, with or without any child victims seeing me and without them calling it in to Skull Face. I would file false reports about the missions back at base that said we were attacked by enemy forces or that my team died from natural causes such as wildlife attacks, enemy combatants or health problems. Not once were my deeds discovered by Skull Face or anyone in XOF except those I killed to keep them silent. I could not let any kids get hurt or killed by anyone, even my own unit and commanding officer. I was never a perfect person and I never will be, but as I said, I do not enjoy seeing suffering and carnage bestowed upon pregnant women and kids that came their way. To put it simply, I hate child killers and rapists." she said.

"Just when XOF couldn't get any crueler." Snake said in disgust of the story about the antagonistic unit.

"I know. They sicken me, too." she admitted.

Snake was amazed that Quiet, despite her then-heartless nature among XOF when she was with them, still refused to obey any order to slaughter children and cross a line that can never be reversed. She admitted that she also sometimes killed any of her own squadmates who slew a child or dared to on one who was still alive, mission or not.

She was one of those people who preferred to target adults because they were less disturbing to kill unlike kids. Even antagonistic organizations like gangs and mobsters had standards when it came to killing people and children were off limits to them and the same applied to Quiet. Now, she tried to avoid killing unless as a last resort as part of her atonement plans.

"What was the most famous mission you did back then?" she asked.

"'Operation Snake Eater'. 1964." he replied.

"'Operation Snake Eater'? I have also heard about that from some soldiers who survived encounters with you before. I cannot believe that I was a child when you performed that mission. They said that you were a rookie at the time of that job or was that a lie told by many?" she said.

"It was no lie. I really was a rookie, then. When I underwent that mission, I saw things that no person should ever see. It was not my actual first objective ever as I've done other jobs similar to that before, but it's still something I can never forget no matter how extended a coma I am in. Hell, I didn't exactly expect to survive that mission. I assumed I would have been a goner." he said.

"I heard that you dealt with someone called 'The Boss' in order to get your 'Big Boss' moniker. Who was that and what happened?"

Snake told her that tale.

"So, that is why you are called 'Big Boss'?" she asked.

"Correct. My last confrontation with my former mentor was how I was granted the title I'm known for today. She was 'Big Boss' before me. Think of it as it being similar to the Presidency rules in the United States or other nations that have Presidents. When the current President dies, resigns, or is impeached and removed from office and power, the Vice-President steps in and takes over. The Boss was the President and I was the Vice-President. When she died, I took over." he answered.

"And if you are no longer able to continue being 'Big Boss'?" she asked.

"Actually, I don't have any successors. I never thought about it and I don't think I need one. I prefer how things are now. But perhaps I should think it over later. Even I won't last forever and will meet my end someday." he said.

"That is . . ." she said, unable to find the right term for what she just heard.

"'Snake Eater' was also the mission where I first met Ocelot. He was a young man known as 'Major Ocelot' then. He and my former mentor were working for a man named Yevgeny Borisovitch Volgin." he said.

"Him?" she asked.

"Yes. Why? Does the name ring a bell for you?" Snake asked.

"It does. I have heard tales from those who once served him. He was said to be a vicious and cruel man who enjoyed torturing people with electricity and that he had the strength of a few men into one, like a superhuman." she said.

"He was. I felt it first hand when he did the same thing to me during the 'Snake Eater' mission." he told her.

"I read about that, too, about how you were forced to endure a torture session from him that involved 10 millions volts of electricity. I am amazed that you survived such a horrendous moment with that man. That amount of electrical power would usually kill a person, but you survived it had no enhanced abilities like I do. When my XOF comrades and I were dispatched to kill you at that hospital the minute we learned of your location, I used to believe that Volgin should have finished you off and it would have saved us the trouble and costs of our deployment. Now, I despise him for what he did to you and I am happy you survived his sadistic torture. I am glad I did not work for him otherwise I would have probably enjoyed torturing people like he did." she said.

"Me too. Did you ever meet him before?" he said.

"No. I was only a child and still living with my family during your mission." she said.

"Oh, right." he said.

"What happened to him after the 'Snake Eater' mission? Did he die?" she asked.

"I thought he did, but recent events revealed he was still alive after all these years." he said.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"You remember the Man on Fire? The one we encountered in that facility in Africa?" he asked her.

Quiet nodded, remembering that person she and Snake fought with at that deserted place. Before that, after she was revived with the parasites and began training with her new abilities, during breaks she heard stories from soldiers who survived the hospital attack of what transpired there in her absence. From what they said, the Man on Fire invaded the hospital and killed anyone who got in his way, be it XOF soldiers, hospital staff, patients. He seemed to have no allegiance to anyone but himself. He was as dangerous as her and she was not sure if she would have lasted in a fight against him had her immolation from the bandaged man never happened. He probably would have attacked and burned her like he did the others and was unsure if she would have survived that too or not. She felt stupid for not believing the stories about the Man on Fire before until she saw him with her own eyes and helped Snake battle him.

Another thing was when she and Snake went up against the fire man, seeing him jump-started her sense of pyrophobia, the fear of fire which she developed since Cyprus for a self-explanatory reason. That moment where she fought off those Soviet troops inside the burning hut at the palace was the only time that she ignored her phobia due to being distracted by her rage and urge to kill her captors. She was not sure about telling Snake about her fear because she thought it to be as embarrassing as an adult person urinating in their sleep, or "wetting themselves" as modern society calls the act.

"What about him?" she asked in confusion.

"That was him." Snake said.

"What?" Quiet asked in surprise and getting back to the topic at hand.

"The Man on Fire was Volgin himself. How he came to become that, I'm not entirely sure. But yes, he returned as a walking human torch and was probably hellbent on killing me out of vengeance for what happened between us back in the '60's. I know because I would have done the same if I were him and he was me." Snake said.

"The Man on Fire . . . was Volgin? The one who tortured you in your story?" Quiet asked.

"Yes, I'm afraid so." he said.

Quiet was about to say something else but the sight of Snake's eye patch made her become curious. How he got it was never determined and so, she wanted to ask him about it.

"Did Volgin do that to you?" Quiet asked and pointed to his eyepatch.

"No. Even though he and I were enemies and he tortured me, he didn't injure my eye." Snake said.

"Then who did?" she asked.

"Ocelot." Snake said.

If she had working lungs, she would have gasped in shock. Instead, she put a hand over her mouth in horror. This was something that did not make it in the reports she read about nor was it mentioned by surviving troops.

"Ocelot? The man with the revolver guns? He did this to you?" she asked while placing a hand on his eyepatch.

"Yes. It happened back when we were enemies during the 'Snake Eater' mission." Snake said and told her what happened on that day.

Now Quiet was more upset than ever before once she heard his story. One of Snake's comrades, the one who gave her a chance to prove herself among the Diamond Dogs, damaged his eye and made him known for wearing an eyepatch as the tales stated.

Her butterfly marks appeared over her eyes again from hearing the tale.

"Dear god, that must have been very horrible." she said.

"It was. It hurt as much as the electrical torture. I was lucky it was the smoke from the gun that did the deed and not the bullet itself as that would've gone into my brain and killed me there." Snake said.

"How could you let him work alongside you after what he did to your eye? You should be furious with him." Quiet suggested.

"I _was_ furious with him for that incident afterward. I wanted to get even with him so much when I escaped my imprisonment. But afterwards, he had later proven himself worthy of my partnership and aided me before we founded Diamond Dogs. I had to admit that I was impressed by his performance and so I accepted him as an ally. He admitted regret for shooting my eye and despite how painful it was that day, now I can't hold anything against him for it. He's part of the reason for this unit's existence. Plus, he helped save me during the hospital invasion by leading me away from that place via horseback. Were it not for him, I wouldn't be here right now and perhaps neither would you. He defended you several times when I first brought you on our base and when Miller expressed his rage against you. He's also partly the reason for us being together like this." he said.

Quiet then realized a couple of things about Ocelot: Snake made a huge point about him in his story and she was being hypocritical about the gunslinger because she and him were alike in some ways.

They both started out as enemies of Snake.

They both tried to kill him a few times.

They both failed and eventually defected to his side after getting to know him better.

They both had bad pasts that carved them into the people they were in the present.

Both were skilled with firearms (revolvers for him and sniper rifles for her) and used their combat skills to survive and fight for Diamond Dogs and the man who co-built it.

It was like how the old saying went: "If you can't beat them, join them" and that saying applied to them. She and Ocelot faced defeat at the hands of Big Boss and since neither person was able to overpower him in battle, they both did what that saying depicted and selected to side with their common former adversary and doing so had molded them into better people than when they were alone and against the legendary soldier.

The only difference is that one of them was actually dating Big Boss and it was her.

When Snake was done answering Quiet's questions about himself, he then had something else to ask her. It sounded silly, but it was bugging him and it would not end until he got it out of the way and now seemed the time to ask away.

"Quiet." he said.

"Oh, you can call me by my real name. I do not mind it. However, I prefer that you only do so when we are alone together and nobody else but you can use my real name and, despite what I said about my codename no longer being useful to me and needing to change it to something else, you may still address me as 'Quiet', but only whenever we are out on missions to keep our identities a secret from whatever foes we face in the future." she said.

"Okay . . ." He said and used her real name as she requested.

 _I love it when he says my real name._ She thought.

"Good. Will that be all about me?" he asked.

"Yes. I have learned all that I wanted about you. Thank you for sharing it with me." she said.

"As I was going to say, there is something I wish to ask you. It may sound off at first, but I need to know the answer and only you can do that." he said.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Are you comfortable with being in a romantic relationship with me?" he asked.

This made the sniper woman confused from his question.

"Of course I am comfortable with it. Why would you ask me that? Are you still disturbed by our past intentions? I told you before that I no longer hold any hatred of you." she said.

"No, it's not that. It's just . . . well . . . I'm in my 50's and you're in your 20's. You know, age gaps and such. You could select any other person you want on this base to take as a love interest who's near the same age as you and yet you chose me instead of them. I have no problem with that, but still, why me, of all people?" Snake said.

She suddenly realized what he was saying. He felt worried that people might find it strange and unwanted to see a youthful woman like herself being the girlfriend of a nearly-middle-aged man like him who was old enough to be her father. Most societies were like that when it came to one's age. It mattered to some and they judged others by it. Young people being with other young people and old people being with other old people and not opposites. That is how it is seen by many and most were sensitive about that kind of subject. However, she was not one of them. She did not care for age gaps. There were, and always will be, people of different age groups dating others younger or older than the other and she was one of those people.

"I am aware of our ages and how people would treat it. Most societies expect to see people that are of the same age, race, social class, nationality and opposite gender, but not anyone courting someone who is the opposite of those things. It is unwanted in their eyes to see such things. But rest assured, I am not those kind of people who see things that way. I am young and you are older, yes. A few decades apart. But I do not care. Age is just a number and I refuse to leave you because of some social taboo. If I want to fall in love with someone who is a couple of decades older than I am, then I will do it because I can and nobody can decide who I can and cannot be with except myself. There are others out there who think like me when it comes to romance it and anyone who has a problem with my choice of who I love and/or am friends with, then that is their problem to deal with and they had better get used to it because I refuse to stop at all. I am proud to have you as my lover and I have no shame from it. The parasites altered only my biology and my appearance, not my personality. That latter part was you." Quiet said.

Snake remained silent as he heard her speak. He still loved her voice and accent.

"So, you don't care that I'm older and no longer youthful-looking like you are?" he asked.

"Not one bit. Everybody reaches old age at some point in life. Well, most people do as those who die young will never reach that point. Despite my extended life-span from my parasites, I too will become elderly one day like Code Talker. He has the same biology as I and look at him. Anyways, as I was saying, being with you, a man who truly cares for me enough to risk life and death to have me aboard your organization after previous bad encounters and to rescue me from captivity after I placed us in peril even when I wanted to be left alone, is what I want in the whole world. That is something a person who carries a strong attachment for someone would do instead of, how people back in your country of birth would say, 'sit on the sidelines'. Being in love with someone does not always mean it has to be with someone with the same background as you. Besides, if your age and appearance really bothered me, I would not have had a night of passion with you the other day, spent time with you at the sanctuary earlier and be here having a nightly meal and staring at the stars as your girlfriend right now, would I? Nor would I do this." she said and gave him a passionate kiss to further prove her truthfulness of what she said.

Snake realized he was being foolish for thinking such a thing about their ages. Was it a bad thing for them to feel what they felt for one another? They were both adults and there was no law in existence that said they could not date each other, private army or not.

"You're right. What a stupid question that was. I'm very honored to have you here with me and I want our love for each other to last as long as it can until the end." he said and returned her kiss.

"You are a good kisser, you know that?" she asked teasingly.

"I try. Who says people over 40 are lousy kissers? It feels good to do that after years of being unable to do so and I don't just mean my coma." he said.

"Only fools say people your age cannot kiss like a young person. Besides, all of the other young people I have encountered were rude and buffoonish to me. You were not those, another reason why I chose you over them." she said.

He then placed an arm around her back and shoulders and she leaned backwards against him to get more comfortable and both people were staring at the stars in the sky again.

It was an amazing sight to behold and for once, aside from their moment together in private the other night and the other things they did as mission partners, this was very nice and relaxing.

Snake dismissed the doubts he had a minute ago because he knew she was right and he was now at peace with it. He was beginning to believe that his luck may have turned around for the better because, as bad as his experiences were before and during the war against Skull Face and XOF, meeting the lovely woman sitting next to him was one of the few good things that came out of what he went through. The other good thing was winning the battle against them. He wished Skull Face was still alive just long enough so that he can rub his relationship with Quiet, his former loyal assassin, in his ugly scarred face. His plan to wipe out Mother Base with an English language infection had been for naught and his attempts were a waste of time of his experience.

He even wondered if Skull Face was even aware of Quiet's growing romance for his opponent and her defection to Diamond Dogs at all. Other than secretly admitting to him that the final English strain was 'very close' as the mad man put it, from the way he spoke various times before, he probably was not knowledgeable about her changing status. If an actual Heaven and Hell existed after death, then he was probably in Hell right now suffering whatever eternal fate he deserved for his actions after the battle with that walking tank of his.

Quiet continued speaking.

"After my therapy, some of my former comrades at XOF made several sex-related comments at me for my appearance. But theirs was more abrasive than how some of your troops behaved toward me earlier." she said.

"Did you ever retaliate for their treatment of you?" he asked.

"I did. They learned to fear and avoid me at all times afterward. Skull Face was impressed by it and that was what earned me his respect and a place as co-leader of his unit. He wanted tough people in his army and my retaliation against my fellow soldiers impressed him." she said.

"Good for you, standing up for yourself." he said.

"Thank you. Too bad I did not stand up to him before and after I came here. How I wish to have hurt him physically myself." she said.

She then tilted her head toward him for better comfort and Snake rubbed her back and hair, which felt goof to her. She hated being touched before she came here, but now she enjoyed it, but only by the man she was snuggling with. Anyone else who tried that without her permission would face physical and painful punishment like she did with XOF as she told Snake.

He placed his arms and hands under her own arms and clasped them around her front side, placing them near her stomach.

Quiet simply lifted his hands upward close to her chest and placed them on her breasts and left them there and smiled with joy. She liked it better that way because it mirrored the way he carried her at the palace even though she never saw it due to being unconscious. She only knew because Snake told her afterwards. Then she wrapped her hands around the back of his neck and clasped her hands and fingers together and locked them in place while he slowly rubbed circles on her chest.

"By the way, there is something else I want to know about you." she said.

"And what would that be?" he asked while moving one hand to grab his soup thermos again and drank it until he was finished.

"That incident that landed you in your coma in the first place. I heard some people around here talking about the event that caused it. Something about another base similar to this one from a decade ago that fell under attack that involved you, Miller, Ocelot and my ex-organization Cipher. What exactly happened back then? I would like to hear it from you to be sure." she said.

Snake thought about it. He hated talking about that night. Only Miller spoke of it often as he was the most angry about it. That events from a decade ago was the whole reason for what he, Miller and all of Diamond Dogs did nowadays. But they had already completed their objective, so speaking about it should be easier for him. It was like how a crime victim refused to speak about what happened to them until the perpetrator died and that would make the victim be able to discuss it to others eventually due to having a piece of mind at long last. He figured that perhaps she should tell her since he had avenged his last organization and he was at peace with himself.

"What did my former agency do to you and your base nine years ago?" Quiet asked, holding his hand for support in case it would be traumatizing for him.

After a moment of silence, he told her.

The story made the butterfly image return on her eyes again out of horror and anger. All of that anger targeted at her former agency for doing such a tragic thing to him.

 _Poor man. He lost everything dear to him and Cipher was responsible for that. I cannot believe I used to work for them. It disgusts me now!_

"I am very sorry for what they did to you back then. And to think I was one of them. It sickens me deeply now. If it makes you feel any better, if we encounter any more leftover Cipher/XOF agents in the future, I will gladly butcher them for you as retaliation for that night. Unlike previous times where I killed them, this time, it will be for you and those you lost." she said.

"I appreciate that." he said and she tilted her head back and gave him another kiss out of sympathy for his past loss and, as usual, another means of apologizing for working for XOF even though he said it was all behind her.

Snake patted her on the cheek with his real hand and they resumed stargazing.

For a while, they tried to identify different star shapes like the dippers, the planets, galaxies and such.

As they did so, his iDroid suddenly beeped, interrupting his moment.

"This had better be good." Snake said as he reached for his iDroid to answer the call while Quiet watched and rolled her eyes in mock annoyance.

"Yeah?" he said.

"Boss, we've done it." said the voice that turned out to be Ocelot.

"Done what?" Snake asked.

"We've managed to build a device that can make you invisible like Quiet and the Skulls." said Ocelot.

"Invisible? What are you talking about" Snake asked.

This puzzled Quiet too. She thought the Skulls and herself were the only ones capable of invisibility.

"Right, I forgot you didn't get the memo. While you were occupied with missions and your . . . time spent with Quiet, I had some of our people at R&D produce a stealth camouflage device out of the DNA of those camouflaging Skulls you captured earlier. One staff member was willing to try it out to see if it was completely safe to use and it worked." said Ocelot.

"You're saying that we now have a device that can make a wearer vanish like Quiet can?" Snake asked.

"That's right, Boss. The next time you head out on another mission, our new invention will make sneaking around enemy hot spots a whole lot easier for you. Quiet does it pretty much all the time, be it out there or here on base. You get my point. But, like Quiet and the Skulls, it will not protect you from those wearing thermal goggles. They'll still spot you with them and attack you even when invisible. It also lasts for only three minutes when in use and it takes five minutes to recharge when depleted of power, so when that happens, get to cover and stay out of sight until it's fully charged and ready to be used again."

"Thank you, Ocelot. Perhaps I will give it a try later on. Right now, I'm busy with something." Snake said.

"Let me guess: on a date with Quiet?" Ocelot asked in a teasing tone of voice just for fun.

"How did you know that?" Snake asked suddenly. He never informed Ocelot of his plans for the day.

"I didn't. You told me just now. That, and the fact that I haven't seen you all day since Quiet's surgery. That was a giveaway for me. But I don't mind it as long as she's with you. You deserve some personal time alone with her." Ocelot said.

"Thanks, I guess. By the way, speaking of which, it worked." he said.

"What worked?" Ocelot asked.

"Quiet's surgery to remove her parasite. It was a success and she can talk in English now." Snake said.

"So she can speak again?" Ocelot asked.

"She's been very chatty about it, not that I have a problem with it." said Snake.

"Hey!" said Quiet.

"So that's what she sounds like when she speaks." said Ocelot after hearing her.

"Yep. You want to speak to her?" Snake offered.

"Why not?" he said and Snake handed his iDroid to her.

"Hello Ocelot." she said to him.

"Hello Quiet. You can speak English safely now, huh? Nice to hear what you sound like after almost a year of silence." he said.

"Thank you and it is very relieving to speak again, especially in English." she said.

"I bet it was agonizing being mute for months." said Ocelot.

"It was. While I was not much of a speaker before the treatment and only speaking when it was necessary, living life as a mute person was bothersome for me afterwards and I am surprised that I never submitted to insanity because of that. I could speak Navajo and Dutch and the vocal parasite would not have activated from them, but during my time on this base while carrying the English strain, I chose not to speak either language in order to keep your soldiers from hearing me, otherwise they might have bombarded me with questions like a paparazzo photographer does with famous people and that would have been as annoying as being silent all day, every day. Anyway, as for Snake and I, we have been spending quality time together as a means of celebrating my freedom of speech and recovery. We also discussed on the idea of changing my moniker because we both feel it does not suit someone who talks. The Boss here suggested it and I agree with him about it." she said.

"I see. Since you're talkative again, it does make sense to have your codename changed to something that now suits the new you. Have you thought of any names you'd like to use?" he asked.

"I am unsure of that for now. I will let you and the Boss know when I think of one. For now, I will stick to my current name until further notice. Snake knows my real name, but only he can use it. Also, for the moment, I am also deciding that I will only speak when it is necessary. I do not wish to be one of those people who talk too much. Just because I can speak safely now does not mean I want to overdo it. I find it to be annoying and embarrassing at the same time when other people do it and do not wish for that." she said.

"I hear you, Quiet. Being around those type of people is a headache to most folks, myself included. Most people address them as 'blabbermouths', 'motormouths', 'big-mouths' and all the rest I can't think of right now. I was cautious around you at first, but even then, I preferred being around you, a silent person, than with someone who never learns the fine art of shutting up." said Ocelot.

"I too cannot stand overly talkative people. XOF had some of them and Skull Face sometimes sent them in first during missions, probably to get rid of them before I could myself." she said.

"Good to know. Oh, and by the way, I owe you an apology for the torture session I allowed on you weeks ago. That was barbaric of me to try. While I am a master interrogator, I admit that I'm not proud of how I do it and what happened to you was uncalled for, policy or not. Sorry." he said.

"I am over that now. There is no need to worry about that anymore. I have no quarrel with you from that time. You were deeply concerned for your soldiers after the outbreaks and took precautions after learning my secret. I would have reacted in the exact same manner if I were in your position and you were in mine. I am humbled to work alongside you and Snake for as long as possible." she said.

"I can't deny that. I'm glad to know you don't hate me for that and I promise you, and the Boss, that I will never do something like that to you ever again. It's like how the Boss put it, we do not attack fellow Diamond Dog comrades and, as of a few days ago, that includes you now. I normally don't feel guilty for torturing someone for information, but I did this once." Ocelot said.

"Skull Face used to treat his own soldiers with such harshness back when I was with XOF. His methods were similar to yours, but far worse like that of a strict disciplinarian. Most under his command were outright terrified of doing or saying anything that may upset him. I was unafraid, but I still dared not to fail him anyway. Habit, I suppose." said Quiet.

"What I did to you reminded you of any suffering you saw from him, did it?" Ocelot asked.

"It did and it took every fiber of my being not to lash out like someone with PTSD or other behavioral issues. The torture methods you and Miller used on Huey Emmerich and myself reminded me of the horrid training and torture methods Skull Face performed. He believed in his own version of 'survival of the fittest' and 'show no mercy', seeing them as the proper way of keeping order in his unit and, to him, only the very best are allowed to serve him and he cleansed XOF of anyone who failed him via execution with the exception of myself. I now hate him for how he did things. However, as the Boss and I put in in private, if it were not for Skull Face sending me to confront him and your organization, what we have now would not exist. Snake and I would not be in a relationship right now and his defeat may have taken longer or perhaps not at all. In a way, that man is the whole reason why I am one of you and why I have found friendship, love and compassion, something I hardly got most of my life. My parents were the only ones who gave that to me as well, but after their deaths, it was replaced with nothing but hatred and the urge to be a supreme person above all others. No more. Like I said, I am not angry at you for torturing me because you were, at least, regretful about it unlike Skull Face." she explained.

"I guess that makes sense, too. It's unpleasant over how you and the Boss met and dealt with each other, but you're right about it being the reason how you are now one of us." said Ocelot.

"Thank you." said Quiet.

"By the way, how do you know about Emmerich's torture sessions? Did you listen to any of the Boss's recording tapes of Huey's interrogations?" he asked.

"No. I sometimes snuck out of my cell once a day to check on the base's staff and such. This became my routine after that incident with the man you call 'Mosquito' happened. One day, after overhearing one of the soldiers nearby speak about your situation with Huey Emmerich, I decided to see it for myself and I escaped my cell and entered the interrogation room via my camouflage. It is where I observed everything that went on in there with nobody being aware of my presence. Even Miller was unable to detect me like how he did from that day I tried to join Snake on one of his missions. At the time, I disliked what I saw you and Miller do to him because I thought he was an innocent man who was blackmailed into doing Skull Face's work and this made me start to consider leaving the base earlier because I had a feeling the same thing would happen to me, which it had eventually. My views about Dr. Emmerich were changed however after the controversial and horrific activities he performed before and after his arrival on your base were discovered and became known all over the base. I now have no sympathy for him any longer. He is a disgrace to his profession and deserved his expulsion from this unit." she said.

"You were there? And you knew the way to the interrogation section the whole time when you yourself were brought there next?" Ocelot asked.

"Yes. I just merely feigned ignorance of its location when I was placed in there to face interrogation after you, Miller and Snake discovered who I was. But I was not there to witness the trial you gave Emmerich for his crimes as I had already secretly departed the base before anyone could notice my absence. If he drowns at sea or is eaten by a wild animal dwelling in the waters, I would not care for it. His wife and child suffered greatly because of him." she admitted.

"I see. Well, I don't want to take up too much of your time with the Boss. Enjoy the remainder of your time with him." he said.

"Thank you, Ocelot. I hope to see you again at a later time." she said.

"Me too. Now how about you hand the iDroid over to the Boss now?" he asked her.

"Gladly." she said and handed the iDroid back to its rightful owner.

"You still there, Boss?" he asked when Snake received the device.

"Yeah, I'm here." said Snake.

"I assume you heard everything said between Quiet and I?" Ocelot asked.

"You assume correctly. I don't mind it, though." said Snake.

"Well, I should get going now. I have other things I must take care of besides DD. I'll hear from you later, Boss." he said.

"Alright." Snake said and Ocelot left and Snake placed his iDroid back in his pouch.

"So, he created a device that can imitate my cloaking ability?" Quiet asked.

"He did. But according to him, it doesn't last indefinitely unlike how you turn invisible. When you do that, you can remain hidden endlessly, but when I do that with the device, it's only for a short period of time and I have to let it recharge until I can be cloaked again." he answered.

"At least it works, right?" she asked while patting his hand.

"Yeah. He said it was tested on one of our own. It'll most definitely come in handy in future missions. Skull Face and XOF may be gone, but we still have lots to do." Snake said.

"Oh, speaking of future missions, that reminds me of something." Quiet said.

"What?" Snake asked.

"What will we do about Eli and those children? It has been about a month since they escaped from this base. Should we go after them soon?" she asked.

"You're right. It has been long since we've seen them. But we have no hints to their whereabouts. They could be anywhere on the globe right now. The second we learn where they are, we'll launch a search for them. They can't stay in hiding forever and we'll find out where they are sometime." he told her.

"I suppose you are right about that." she said. Quiet wondered if Skull Face and Eli knew each other before. Adults were not the only people Skull Face experimented his parasites on. Kids were subjected to his cruel experimentation too. That leader of the child soldiers, Shabani, was one of the victims as discovered in that place where she and Snake confronted the Man on Fire.

They spent another few minutes staring at the sky until they tired of it.

"Hey, you want to head back to my room and watch some movies? I have a collection of them that my soldiers found during their own raids and I'd like to catch up on what I missed while I was comatose." Snake offered.

"Okay. I would love that. Shall I run ahead and wait for you again or will we head over there together?" she asked.

"Let's head back together this time. It sounds better that way." he said.

"As you wish." she said.

They both got up, rubbed the sitting feeling off them and ventured down the stairs. While she could jump down and wait for him, Quiet remained by his side, following him from behind.

When they made it back to Snake's private room later, Quiet removed her boots, placed them on her side of his bed and went into the bathroom to examine herself in the mirror while Snake went to fetch the movie collection he mentioned.

"Here we are." he said and showed her his collection. She was impressed by the amount of tapes he had.

"You have a massive tape collection here." she said.

"I do, don't I? Well, I'll let you select what we'll watch tonight while I change out of my uniform and into something more fitting for here." he said.

"Alright." she said and she skimmed through his film collection while Snake went into his bathroom with a handful of new clothes he planned in changing into. She was hoping to find something very interesting for the two of them.

Finally, she found what she sought. It looked odd, but it was better than nothing or some moody, drama film and she wanted something positive to lift their spirits.

"Here. I believe I found something good." she called out.

"Be out in a moment." he called from closed doors.

"Take your time. I will be here." she said in a flirtatious manner and fluffed her hair.

Later, he exited the bathroom sporting a new look.

"What do you think?" he asked and waved his hand over himself.

"You look terrific. What about me?" she said and asked.

"The same: lovely. Don't you stop being beautiful." he said.

Quiet's cheeks flushed.

"That will never happen." she said with a smile.

"So what did you want to see?" he asked.

"This." she said and handed her tape of choice to him and he looked at it.

"'Superman: The Movie'? They made a film about this guy?" he asked while staring at the tape.

"Yes. I have never seen it either, but I heard that it is very good and I hope to watch it with you." she said.

"Okay, I'll give it a shot. I read the comic books, so let's see what a film version of it looks like." he said.

The sniper woman snickered for a moment.

"What?" Snake asked before suddenly understanding why she was giggling.

"Oh, I see. 'Shot'. As in . . . yes." he said and rolled his eyes from both his own joke and how he did not see it before her.

"You have a VCR in here to view that?" she asked. While she was here last time, she never noticed if he had a VCR player in the room.

"Yes, it's here somewhere. I'll get it." Snake said and he began to search the room until he found what he was looking for. He got the VCR, and a small television set, out of his closet and set them both up.

When he finished, Quiet inserted the tape and they sat together and let the movie play.

Snake was rather impressed by the movie's content.

 _Whoever wrote this movie is a fucking genius. I can't believe I missed this during my coma._ He thought as he watched the film with his girlfriend.

When the movie ended, Quiet got the tape out and put it back into its slip box.

"What did you think of it?" she asked him.

"That movie was amazing. I can't believe they took this long to make it into a feature film. Well, there were those two serials from the 1940's and 1950's, which I saw once or twice before when I was younger, but this was much better than them." Snake commented.

"I loved it too and I am glad to have seen it with someone I care for than watching it alone. The experience is better that way." she said.

"Although I think he'd be better wearing his underwear _inside_ of his suit rather than _outside_ of it. It's kinda embarrassing." Snake said humorously.

"Right? I wear my undergarments, but inside my leggings and only because I must, unlike him." said Quiet.

"True." he said.

"Do you wish to watch the sequel now or later?" she asked.

"There's another one?" Snake asked.

"Sure." said Quiet and she returned to the box of tapes and fished out what she was looking for and handed it to Snake.

He looked at it.

"'Superman II'?" he asked upon seeing it and looked at the back to see the images and what the movie was about.

"Do you want to watch it?" Quiet asked again.

"Alright. Let's see it." Snake said and Quiet laid near the bed while Snake decided to insert the tape into the VCR this time and pressed the "play" button.

The film was better than the first one. It further showcased what the characters were up to since the events of the first film and showed non-human, superpowered villains this time instead of just a human madman.

When the movie ended, Snake took the tape out, placed it back into its box slot and put it back into his tape collection.

By this time, Snake was starting to become tired. The same with Quiet. They decided to go right to sleep after learning it was already late and Snake guessed that the nightshift guards were already out on patrol all over the base.

"So that's it for now?" Snake asked Quiet.

"It appears so. I wish I could remain awake to watch more, but I am becoming drowsy now and must sleep." she said.

"Alright. Let's go to sleep. Tomorrow, I hope to spend another day with you." he said.

"Me too." she said while yawning.

They climbed onto the bed together again like with last night. Unlike previously, they had no plans for a second sex performance as they were too tired to do so.

Quiet removed her bra, leaving nothing but her panties. Not only did she want to look sexy for him, she also wanted more breathing room for herself. Her leggings were fine, but there are times where she wants to be without them.

"Goodnight." he said.

"You too." she said.

They happily kissed each other on the lips one more time before turning the lights off and waited for their sleepiness to overcome them.

However, before going to sleep, Snake had one last thing to ask her.

"Oh, by the way, I've been meaning to ask you something, but forgot to." he told her.

"What would that be?" she asked, fighting to stay awake longer.

"What is that song of yours? The one you hum all the time during missions. I forgot to ask that when we were questioning each other earlier and I did say I wanted to know more about it the other day. Well, now I want to know." he said.

Quiet went silent like her soon-to-be-gone namesake. He was speaking about her signature tune, The tune she hummed all the time, before and after she befriended Snake and his team. It was something personal of hers for as long as she could remember. She never revealed to anyone of its meaning and origin, not even to Skull Face. While ruthless previously, it was the one thing she had of her past prior to becoming a killer that she considered extremely special and kept a part of her inner humanity in check.

Now that her humanity had resurfaced for the better, would she be able to tell Snake about it? Would she break her silence on her special song?

As for Snake, he had come to truly admire the song. To him, it felt wonderful and it fit Quiet.

"Is something wrong?" he asked her, thinking she was sad or something.

"Nothing. Nothing is wrong. I will tell you what I know about the song." she said.

"Okay. Can you sing it, this time with words?" he asked.

She sat up while Snake remained laying down. Her back was turned to him as she prepared herself to sing now that she can.

"Would you rather wait until sunrise if you're too tired to sing it?" Snake asked.

"No, I can sing it now. I want to show you." she said.

Closing her eyes and envisioning something clear, she began to sing her song.

The song seemed to soothe Snake. He was finally getting to hear the secret song she always used in their battles.

 _She sounds beautiful when she sings._ He thought. It symbolized who she was, before and after her capture and recruitment into Diamond Dogs.

When she finished, she turned back to him.

"What a great song. You also have a wonderful singing voice. Good thing your surgery didn't damage it otherwise you wouldn't have been able to sing it." he said.

"Thank you. I enjoy singing it and never grow tired of it." she said.

"Where did you come up with that?" he asked.

"It was . . ." she said before stopping and having a mental flashback to the song's origins. She kept this to herself for years, believing it to be painful memories and suppressed it during her time in XOF because she thought it was a sign of weakness which was forbidden within the unit. But now, she felt the need to tell Snake about it. She could not keep it in the dark any longer.

"The song was something I thought up a long time ago. I wrote it on an acoustic guitar that a friend of mine from my old village once had to pass time while my parents worked jobs to support our family. I had no intention of making a recording of it in the future, I merely played it for fun. Before tonight, back then, the song had no lyrics. It was just an instrumental tune. The one you just heard right now was my version of it that I had mentally written during my time in the medical bay cell as a means of expressing some creativity to pass time in there and personally expressing how I felt about my new life on this base and with you. You were the inspiration for the new version of my personal song." she explained.

"So, you thought it up for fun as a child and then years later, you gained inspiration of the lyrics from being around me. Right? The song is about you and I?" Snake asked.

"Correct. It is now our song." she said.

"Wow. We have a theme song." Snake said happily.

Quiet giggled.

"I guess we do." she said.

"Were you a singer before Diamond Dogs?" he asked.

"I used to sing before even XOF. See, before I became a military woman, I used to sing other songs back home as a little girl. Sometime I did it for personal fun and sometimes I sang for my entire home village to entertain the people for parties and the like. My parents, amazed by my vocal abilities, suggested that I should become a professional singer when I got older. I considered it until the day of the raid that changed my life. The events of that day killed any chances I may have had in pursing my original passion and instead, it lead me down the path of mercenary work and I abandoned my singing dreams and allowed fate to lead me to what would eventually become XOF and Cipher. I hummed the song during my missions as a means of luck for me, kind of like how a religious performer prays before a show or an athlete consumes something for an energy boost to warm up before performing strenuous activities. The song was like those things with me. However, ever since you brought me here and started to open my eyes to who you really were, I decided to use the song to channel whatever luck I had, or thought I had, to us, to succeed in fighting injustice. As I stated previously, there were no lyrics to my song until the growing friendship we developed inspired me. Sometimes I wonder where I would be today had the raid of my village never happened and I pursued my dreams. I would probably be a famous performer now. But then again, you and I would not have met and we would not be together now. If offered a chance to return to pursuing a music career, I would turn it down over you any day, all day and forever more in the future because you are not in my previous dream. This is what I have now and I love it." said the woman.

Snake now knew of her background story and why she hummed the song.

"You know how we do celebrations once in a while? Holidays, birthdays and I don't mean mine only, and such?" Snake asked her.

"Yes. I recall all of those things. Your birthday was the only one I attended while I remained away from the other festivities. I hardly celebrated my own birthday after I was orphaned and recruited into XOF. I cannot even remember the last time I had a birthday for me. My memories from my childhood are fuzzy with the exception of my parents and the raid." she said.

"I was thinking, perhaps you'd like to sing at the next celebration when that time draws near?" he asked.

Quiet was astounded at that.

"You . . . you want me to sing for you and your base on the next celebration?" she asked.

"Yes. That is, if you're interested." he said.

"Oh, of course I would love to sing for everyone next time! It would be a great honor to do so!" she said happily and hugged him out of gratitude.

"Alright. Perhaps we can even give you a birthday celebration of your own when it comes on a couple of months." he said.

Quiet simply hugged him out of happiness. Her lover promised to throw her a party and she would get to experience the feeling she was denied for years.

"Glad that's settled. Now, let's get some sleep now and we'll spend time together again." Snake said.

Quiet agreed and she and him laid in bed together, this time letting sleep take them away.

 _I am one of the luckiest people ever. I have a great new life here. I am now part of a new peace-keeping private army which is lead by an amazing leader and of who I am courting. I succeeded in helping stop a massive doomsday-like event from taking place and now, I am free of the thing that made me into a deadly, living weapon and it is all thanks to the famous Big Boss._ She thought before finally falling asleep herself.

Sometime later during the night, Snake's iDroid beeped which woke them up.

"I'd better get that." Snake said with a yawn as he reached for his device while Quiet remained where she was and watched without saying anything.

""Yeah?" Snake said into the machine.

"Boss! Sorry to wake you at this hour, but we have a problem!" It was Kaz Miller. He sounded urgent, which was what he always sounded like 24/7.

"Miller? What's wrong?" Snake asked while rubbing his eye.

"It's the Skull soldiers on the Quarantine pad! They're running loose there!" he said.

"What? How?" Snake asked.

Quiet grew concerned, too.

"One of them broke out of its cage and freed the others. Some of our people station there are all dead or have been turned into puppet soldiers like the ones you encountered before. I know this because one of our soldiers managed to contact me prior to being cut off and victimized by the escaped Skulls. Luckily though, the pad has no connecting bridges to the rest of the base, so they're unable to leave and infect and kill everyone else on base. Still, we must deal with them just to be on the safe side. We no longer have the treatment for the symptoms of any infected guards there because of Eli and if they were to somehow invade the other bases and infect whoever they wished . . ." Miller said, making Snake understand his point.

"Containing them will be impossible this time and you believe that the only option we have to take is kill them all, even those infected." Snake guessed.

"Yes. It's the only sure-fire way to prevent another outbreak on base. Two were enough, we don't need a third one, especially since we don't have a cure anymore." Miller said.

For once, Snake agreed with his statement on using lethal force to subdue a threat to Mother Base. He refused before the outbreaks and had to violate his own rule when the second outbreak happened. No way was he going to allow a third outbreak to take place.

"Okay, I'll handle them. Give me a moment to prepare." Snake said.

"Got it. Let me know when you're ready and I'll summon a chopper for you. Since the regular pilot is resting, I'll call in a replacement." Miller said.

"Alright. Out." Snake said and the line ceased.

"I need to deal with those Skulls immediately. You can stay here if you-" he said before she cut him off.

"No, I want to go with you. Those Skulls are causing trouble and I wish to help you in handling the situation. This is my new home and I swore I would guard it from all enemies, even from those whose experimental mutation I share." she said. She and the Skulls may share the same abilities, but when it came to personality, they were different and Quiet wanted to help defend her new home from her own "kind".

"You sure?" Snake asked.

"Positive. Let us leave and handle them." she said.

"You sure you can still perform combat duties even after having surgery hours ago?" Snake asked.

"As I have proved to you afterwards, I can still fight even after going under the knife to regain my speech. Fighting those Skulls alone was challenging when you first met them and they almost got you killed, but with me, taking them down is easier." she said.

Snake realized that bringing her along to deal with the Skulls was a smart idea than going in without her. He remembered how well she fought some of the Skulls in their missions such as that incident at the airport. That was unintentional as crashing there was not part of the plan obviously, but the Skulls were dealt with quicker with her around. He was not prepared for them the first time when he rescued Kaz Miller and barely made it out alive when he faced them again at that place where he found and retrieved that Honey Bee launcher weapon. He was so glad he brought Quiet along with him when he went to rescue Code Talker in Africa otherwise the Skulls at the airport might have overpowered him and, legend or not, even he had his limits. He was not superhuman like them, Quiet, the Man on Fire, that silent, floating boy with the psychic powers or that fictional hero from those films he watched with Quiet just recently.

He just could not reject his girlfriend's offer to assist him with the Skulls.

"Alright, you can come. I'd be stupid not to include you. I'll call in a chopper while you get ready." he said.

The woman nodded and went to go change back into her usual combat attire while Snake did as he said he would and used his iDroid to summon a helicopter. Because of him giving the original pilot a break from flying duties, he requested a different pilot for the moment. Emergency situation or not, he did not wish to rush and/or pressurize his soldiers into working too hard.

After making the call, he too began to get his combat gear, equipment and uniform. Due to also not having much weaponry on them save for two pistols, two pairs of combat knives and her "Sinful Butterfly" sniper rifle, Snake also requested additional weapons to help them fight the Skulls. Handguns and knives would not be enough to stop them.

When they were finished dressing, Snake and Quiet led themselves out the room and to the nearest landing pad and waited for their helicopter to come and when it did and descended, they opened the door and got in.

The person flying the vehicle was different as Snake requested earlier.

"Hi Boss. I'll be your pilot for tonight and as long as possible. Quarantine Zone, right?" the pilot asked.

"Yes. Immediately." Snake told the new pilot.

"Right away. Oh, and I also packed the weapons and stuff you asked for earlier, Boss. Same with Quiet here." said the pilot as Snake shut the door and the helicopter started to hover up and fly to where Snake said to head over.

During this time, Snake and Quiet started to interact with their new weaponry, figuring out what worked and what to take with them. Quiet stuck with her rifle and pistol as always, but she also carried a few hand grenades and incendiary rounds just to be safe.

As for Snake, he got a shotgun, lots of shells, a pistol and a few sub-weapons such as the same grenades she took and a knife.

"That's ready for me. What about you?" he asked Quiet.

"The usual things with a couple of new items to my personal arsenal. We will be the only ones the Skulls will deal with and everybody else will be safe." she said.

"Good. I'm more battle-hardened for them than the last few times." Snake said.

"Just five minutes until we arrive, guys. Oh, and congratulations on regaining your speech, Quiet. Word about it had already spread throughout the base." said the new pilot.

"Thank you." said Quiet.

Snake and Quiet began thinking up what strategy to use against the Skulls. The Quarantine platform was a one-pad area, meaning that it would be cramped and would have very little space to roam around on for a battle. It would not be like the previous battles the two soldiers had with the creatures. Those were open-wide areas, this would be different.

Plus, these were the last Skulls alive. Skull Face made more, but not only were they either captured or killed, creating more would be impossible now that he was dead and the knowledge of how to create Skull soldiers died with him. Code Talker probably knew how to replicate Skull creatures too, but there was no way he would ever do that.

Quiet was also one of his creations, but she rejected him and his unit in favor of his one-eyed foe. Code Talker was one as well, but his creation differed from Quiet's. She and Code Talker would become the final Skull-like people alive if the ones occupying the Quarantine island died tonight. Even she did not know how many puppet soldiers her former boss created. He kept some things in the dark from his own soldiers, including her.

Since the Skulls had no redeeming qualities like Quiet did, she would have to take them out if that was needed to be done to ensure the safety of Diamond Dogs and the world.

"So, that's the battle plan we'll use against them when we see them. This must not fail." Snake said to Quiet.

"It is a good plan and it will not fail. You are Big Boss. You always succeed." she said.

"I suppose so." Snake said.

As they flew, Snake started to experience another flashback in his mind like last time. Again, the flashback involved a combat medic, the same medic from his last flashback, assisting him. He felt some kind of odd connection to the medic in his mental flashes, but he wondered who he was and what it could mean.

 _Snake!_

 _Medic!_

 _She's rigged. Damn it, we were set up!_

 _We gotta get it out._

 _No time for anesthetic. We have to open her now._

 _Hold her down. Hold her down!_

 _Keep her gut in!_

 _Boss._

 _Breathing's stable. No active bleeding._

 _She's clean. I'm closing her up._

 _Hold her steady._

 _It's gotta be a continuous suture._

 _The inspection was nothing but a smokescreen._

 _I heard explosions. Then . . ._

 _They played us like a damn fiddle!_

 _Give it back!_

 _This isn't right! That was ours . . ._

 _We built it, damn it!_

 _You spying bitch!_

 _C'mon! C'mon, start talking, bitch!_

 _C'mon! Get up and start talking!_

 _You little-!_

 _Bomb._

 _There's a-_

 _It's alright. We got it out._

 _There's another . . . in my . . ._

 _NO!_

It was the same moment he experienced previously. It was like a broken videotape that kept playing over and over again prior to the explosion that led to his comatose state for the next 9 years. He recalled having a medic on board that chopper that nigh. He could not remember the name of that medic who got the bomb out of Paz. He remembered that the medic was in front of him when the bulk of Paz's fatal detonation was within range of the helicopter and Snake was not sure if that man had lived or died from that moment. All Snake knew was that if not for that medic, he would not be alive and here to this day. He sacrificed himself to save him, the legendary Big Boss.

 _Not again! Why the hell are these images playing like that?_ He thought.

"Snake?" a feminine voice called out to him.

He snapped out of his thoughts and saw Quiet staring at him.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'm . . . I'm fine. I'm just trying to resist my drowsiness, is all." he lied.

While he was still carrying the urge to sleep and trying to be on alert for his upcoming battle against the loose Skulls, seeing as it was still night, at the same time, it was not truth.

What the hell are these flashbacks and why are they happening? He thought.

Once the Skulls were dealt with and he got a good night's sleep later, he made a mental note to see one of the base's doctors to find out why those images kept coming and what their meaning was. Until then, he would not tell Quiet or anyone else about it until the facts were discovered to be perfectly sure.

"We're there, guys! Get ready!" said the pilot as they saw the artificial island that housed the captive Skulls.

"Are you ready?" Snake asked his companion.

"Affirmative." she said.

They both clutched at their weapons and prepared to exit.

For cautionary reasons, Snake could not let the pilot to land on the landing pad out of worry that the Skulls would jump out, hijack the helicopter, kill them and fly it toward the base and endanger the rest of the base.

"Hey, don't land this thing." Snake said to the pilot.

"Why not?" he asked.

"The Skulls might ambush us and use the chopper to reach the base and cause mayhem there. We can't risk landing at the moment." Snake explained.

"Good point. So, how are you going to exit and land on the pad at this height without risking injury or death?" the pilot asked.

Snake thought and looked at Quiet.

"She and I will jump and land together." he said.

The woman's eyes went wide from that.

"What? But we have no parachutes. _I_ can land safely from any height, but how can you?" she asked in bewilderment.

"I latch onto you. We jump at the same time and you land while I hold you tightly." he said before realizing that this may sound like a sex joke which he did not intend to make.

She got what he was saying.

"Oh, I see what you mean. I have never tried that before, though. I normally jump alone without anyone holding onto me." she said.

"I know you can do it. The jump won't hurt me as long as I'm with you." he said to assure her.

She blushed, but not enough to show it to him. His plan was the only way to safely get him on the artificial island without harm from a high fall as she could survive it as demonstrated a few times.

"Alright. We will try that." she said in agreement.

"Okay, you're the boss, Boss. You want me to stay in the air above the island or fly away till you contact me when you're finished mopping up here?" the pilot asked.

"When we leave this chopper, fly as far away as you can and wait for my call when Quiet and I are done with them. In other words, do not return until I say so. Understood?" Snake said.

"As you wish. Be careful down there, Boss!" the pilot said and Snake opened the door and eyed the zone.

He could not see the Skulls. They were probably hiding, waiting for someone to come and become their prey. Some of them were the vanishing type, so no explanation was needed for how they were unseen while the other ones, the mist and armored ones, were hiding somewhere and watching them now.

"Hod onto me, Snake." Quiet said and he obeyed by approaching behind her and wrapping his arms around her waist and back.

"Do not let go of me whatsoever until we land." she said.

"I won't. On your go." Snake said to her.

While this may arouse her during their private times together, she knew when to be serious and this was the time for that. She can be aroused by him holding her like this later when they were finished here and back in their quarters safely.

She hoped Snake got a good grip on her form. She did not want him dropped and hurt and that would go south for them.

If Quiet had lungs, she would have inhaled, exhaled and prepared herself for the jump.

"On '3'." she said.

"1 . . . 2 . . .3!" Snake said and tightened his grip on Quiet (not too hard to choke her) as she leaped from the helicopter like a skydiver and the two fell freely.

"Prepare for landing!" she said out loud and descended her fall like she always did by controlling her falling speed.

Soon, they landed and Snake released her when he touched the ground.

"We made it." she said.

"I told you it would work. Now then, let's find and confront the Skulls." he said and withdrew his shotgun and loaded a few shells into it while Quiet got out her knife. She preferred to fight them with melee combat and would reserve her guns as a last resort if they proved too tough for her or him.

They looked at the helicopter and saw it flying away from the island as Snake ordered. Now they were stuck on the platform and would only leave if Snake ordered their pickup after the Skulls were dealt with.

"Let us take the fight to them." said Quiet.

"Fight well." he said and the two began their search for the dangerous creatures.

 _I better not get another flashback during this battle_. _I need all of my focus and mental wandering could cost me big time._ Snake thought.

The battle was on.

* * *

 **Sorry I took long with this. Same thing with me as usual. Writing patience, proofreading, and other things I had to do. Anyways, Quiet can talk now, she spent some time with Snake at the base's animal pad, visited the base's fitness center, performed a few workouts and went back with him to his room to watch movies in private and now she and Snake must set out to deal with the loose Skulls, which I based on the "Skulls Attacks" FOB mode which I was playing and it inspired me to add it in here at the time of the writing.**

 **The FOB modes increased my interest in them now that Quiet and Ocelot have become playable. Quiet is more better for me to use than Ocelot because of her combat skills, her ability to vanish when staying still, her running speed and leaps which are faster than the others and climbing up and down ladders is faster than climbing them. I also like it when she lets out a mere giggle in a "Gotcha" way whenever she holds an enemy at gunpoint. Sucks she can't interrogate them, though, but it fits her character.**

 **Her answers to Snake's questions on her background are based on her real-life actress. To explain things further, because Quiet's date of birth is never mentioned in the game and on the Metal Gear wiki site, I decided that it would be August 5th, 1958 because:**

 **1: her actress, Stefanie Joosten, was born in August 5th of 1988. Get the similarity?**

 **2: because the story is set in 1984, I set her birth date to what you saw to explain her youthful appearance and to keep the game's timeline accurate or something like that.**

 **3: Joosten was somewhere in her early 20's at the time of the game's production and she was 27 years old when the game came out in September of 2015 as her birth month is August, one month before the game's release.**

 **4: because it's 1984 here and Quiet's custom birth year here is now 1958, that means she is also 26 years old during the game's events because it makes sense and anyone who was born in 1958 was that age in the real 1984 and Quiet will be 27 when August comes by in the story as it's still before that month as you can tell. Should she get a birthday celebration similar to what Snake got or a regular one like everyone else's?**

 **This was all one big fucking headache to learn and write for me. I hope I got it right. If I got anything about her wrong, tell me, but tell me in a scary way. I'd like to see how whatever reviews you write, good or bad, sound in a manner like that as a joke. I got the idea from an old cartoon I used to see two decades ago, don't ask what it was.**

 **While it would make sense to name Quiet after her portrayer, here, I decided to edit out her name and let you imagine what it is. I say this because lots of Metal Gear fics always name her after her actress and while that made sense for them to do that, I wanted to be different from them. I didn't want to copy them, thus I left her name out to interpretation. You tell me what name you believe it to be in the reviews. It could be after her actress or something else, I don't care.**

 **I added a mention of Japan in Quiet's story because her actress resides there in real-life. But unlike Joosten, Quiet obviously did not have any adventures there due to her job in XOF. I'm not entirely sure on the Otaku stuff because frankly, I don't have a damned clue as to what that is, no offense to those who enjoy it. One of my in-laws loves Japanese culture and is nuts about it as I am with metal music and DC stuff. To those who love Japanese culture regardless of whether you're Japanese-related or not, good for you. Joosten ain't Japanese, but she's nuts for it and I salute her for it.**

 **As for Quiet knowing Dutch, since her actress is Dutch as she was born in the Netherlands and the character is based on Stefanie Joosten herself, it made sense to have Quiet know the Dutch language here even though she never spoke it in the game and English and Navajo are all she knew.**

 **What I typed about her owning a cockatiel before as a kid was based on my own ownership of a cockatiel back in my elementary school days. It's something I threw in as I wrote the sanctuary scene. My cockatiel bird was terrified of me and my family at first when I purchased it from a Petco store years ago (I would if I were an animal and was adopted by strangers I don't know), but then it started to cuddle and chirp whenever I was around. In the late half of 2005, I gave my bird to a neighbor because the apartment I lived in at the time was under new management and the new person in charge disallowed pets (sometimes I wanna piledrive that person nowadays). The neighbor moved away later and I haven't seen my bird since then and I hope it's doing well with whoever owns it now, assuming it's still alive nowadays, that is. If not, well, at least I gave my bird a home and a lot of T.L.C. Because I now own a cat, I'm not sure about getting another bird being a good idea because, honestly, I'm sure they'll try to kill each other if I did and I'd feel extreme guilt for that if it happened.**

 **Snake's background was based on what I found about Big Boss on the Metal Gear wiki site. However, since the "secret ending" has not yet happened here, I had him say to Quiet what I read online about the real B.B's bio. But when he makes his "discovery" later on, that's going to change a whole lot of things. You know why.**

 **Quiet spoke a lot to Ocelot and Snake despite saying that she wishes to never become a "blabbermouth" now that she can speak again. After being able to talk again after a long time of being mute, who wouldn't do that? It's one of those "get it out of your system" things. If you were mute for months or years and literally found your voice, wouldn't you chat away for minutes or hours to treasure the moment?**

 **I would.**

 **Speaking of that, I am going to tell you all something I have never told anyone except one person whom I will not name. I am a mute person and I cannot speak at all. I can't even scream or cry like regular people do unlike Quiet in the game who can grunt in pain while I cannot. How, you ask? I was born without vocal cords. You probably think that's impossible, but it's true. Some people are born without limbs, some without eyesight or eyeballs, some without ears or hearing, some without an organ or two, or even have them sticking out of their bodies from birth, etc, etc. You know, birth defects and stuff. Well, I literally have no voice and I have been that way since the day I was born and I will be that way until the day I die. I know I'm not the only one, but I felt I had to let this out while I can. Sure there's those electronic voice box thingies some people who are incapable of speaking normally use to talk, but I don't use them because I have no trust in them. Why? I fear they might explode and damage me very painfully if I were to use one and I'd rather play it safe by communicating via messages, paper or digital, than speak artificially and risk serious injury to myself. It's sound stupid, but I'm used to it. There, I finally said it. I mentioned this to someone else on this site, but I will not say who.**

 **Back to business.**

 **Although I know what Big Boss's real name is as do you all, I don't know V.S's name either. It doesn't say what his real name is on the MG wiki site, so for now, the name he tells Quiet when asked is the same as Big Boss's until he gets a certain tape later on if you know what I mean, by which I mean, "you do know what I mean."**

 **I'm not sure if the Diamond Dogs base has a fitness center in it, so I'm assuming here that they do. How else do they, and Venom Snake, stay in shape? They've got to have one somewhere. Some of the workouts you see Snake and Quiet do are based on what I do at my local gym or at home. The only things I don't do at my gym in real-life are lift weights that exceed beyond how much I can lift and go inside its swimming pool. My gym has a swimming pool, but I never use it. I've never pulled/torn a muscle before and I do not intend to and feel that kind of pain and ruin my ability to exercise. As for the pool, how can I be certain that other members didn't piss in there before I enter? If I swam in it during and after people did their business in it . . .**

 **MGS 2 and 3 HD Edition is finally available to Xbox One consoles and I bought it as it was part of one of the Xbox Live sales deals they have. Boy, am I going to enjoy playing them. I played the original MGS2 back when it was released on the original Xbox. Now I can relieve my glory days by playing that and MGS3. I did not own a PlayStation 2 then and it's a good thing I didn't so I can experience MGS3 now that it's available for modern consoles. If I've never seen, played or heard something that's old, it's new to me. I have a thing of buying games and movies when they're discounted rather than on launch day. It's more satisfying to me that way than buying them at full price and saved me money. I'm a discount person.**

 **I really hope they make Quiet and Ocelot playable in the story and side ops missions because that would be fun and would make me so happy.**

 **I've heard of "Metal Gear Survive". I have not played it yet and I hope to one day. What do you all think of that game? Is it good? I need to know before I decide to buy it. I've seen negative reviews of it online and I'm starting to question whether I should get it or not because I hate wasting my money on something that later turns out to be bad. It's a risky gamble.**

 **Try to guess what movies the soldiers were talking about. I gave hard-to-miss clues about them. I only mentioned films that were released before, or in, 1984 and movies that came out later are from trailers that were shown in real-life. Same with Quiet when she told Snake what she was not like earlier.**

 **I had them watch the first two Superman movies because, face it, due to my fandom of DC, it popped in my mind during the writing.**

 **Who always pays his taxes? Not Big Boss!**

 **Sorry for taking long to post this. I was busy with other fics, thinking up ideas for this, being distracted by new game releases, overcome by that Avengers 4 movie despite being a DC fan, and getting a new job. After living off of Social Security for a couple of years after suffering a grave injury at my previous job and unable to return to working, I finally recovered enough to return to working again. It felt odd to me at first, but I'll readjust. It's a local job this time, no traveling like my previous means of employment. That's gonna keep me occupied once more, but I'll get to my fics during breaks or whenever possible.**

 **Enjoy this chapter. More to come. I don't care for what kind of responses you give me. Positive, negative, frankly my readers, I don't give a damn.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Quiet and Snake were summoned to take care of a problem at the base's Quarantine Platform. The captured Skulls there were said to have broken loose from their cages and are running amok on the platform and must be either contained again or eliminated to keep another outbreak from happening.**

 **How will the two handle the creatures on such a tiny island base? Find out.**

* * *

Quiet and Snake crept around the endangered island base, looking out for any of the Skulls there.

Because Snake was normal and lacked the enhanced hearing Quiet possessed, she had to be the one to seek out the creatures. She would not let the Skulls harm him after almost losing him.

They waited and kept their eyes open. Because the artificial island was small, combat and cover were going to be difficult as Snake and Quiet were adapted to doing those things in open areas when on missions.

A shriek was heard and the two were on edge.

"See 'em?" Snake asked.

"No, but I can hear their footsteps. They know we are here." she said.

Suddenly, a shadow figure appeared in front of him and, thanks to his quick reflexes, Snake reflected the creature's attack.

Another one headed for him, but Quiet intercepted and knocked the Skull creature away with a flying kick and a strong one. Because it happened so fast, she had no time to shoot the foe and had to drop her gun in order to kick the Skull faster.

The Skull crashed to the ground, got up, glared angrily at the sniper woman, and she glared right back.

The scene resembled that of an old western film, a standoff. The two were both powerful and were capable of overpowering regular people.

But this was going to be different. While Quiet did fight off enemy Skulls before during her missions with Snake, she did so with firearms and hardly fought them in regular combat.

Now she was going to do just that with this one.

"Leave this one to me." she told him.

Snake watched as the two charged at each other.

The Skull got its machete out while Quiet got out her knife. Fighting a machete with a knife sounded like a stupid battle plan for most people, but Quiet was not like most people other than her abilities. She also was skilled with knives and was willing to fight and slay her "sibling" with it.

The two parasite-fueled beings clashed with their weapons and swung them at each other.

The creature growled as it tried to best Quiet in strength, but she held her ground and shoved back with her own enhanced strength.

The short stalemate ended when Quiet gave a quick kick to the ribs of the Skull, causing it to stagger on the side and make it lose balance with the machete attack and this allowed Quiet to dislocate the creature's wrist, causing it to drop its weapon and she kicked it again, this time in the chest, and she delivered a strong uppercut and knocked the Skull down.

It got up and lunged at the woman, but she grasped its arm, twisted it and plunged her knife into its shoulder.

It screeched in pain and before it could react, Quiet twirled it around, kicked it on its popliteal fossa area, grabbed its head with both of her hands and gave a quick 180 degree twist, killing the Skull.

She let go and it fell to the ground, dead. She pulled her knife out of the body's shoulder area and twirled the weapon around on her hand.

"Good job." Snake said.

"Thank you. Now let us battle the others. They are coming . . . now." she said and the other Skulls dropped down to the middle of the artificial island, ready to do battle with the two heroes and vice versa for Snake and Quiet.

Snake fired the first shot, hitting one of them in the face.

It screeched and the rest charged at them.

The fighting was tough and fierce.

Blood was sprayed everywhere.

Bullets were sprayed everywhere.

A few dead Skulls collapsed on the ground, dead by either gunfire or by other means. Even when in an inclosed, isolated space, the Diamond Dogs leader and the ex-XOF agent were doing quite well against the inhabitants of the island.

Snake placed the barrel of his gun inside the mouth of one Skull and squeezed the trigger while another had its chest ripped open, its heart carved out of there and shoved down the throat of its own owner, gurgling for a few seconds before falling back.

One Skull was even thrown off the island and into the ocean, spelling a slow and painful death for it due to the seawater.

In time, most of the Skulls had been killed by the soldier and the inhuman sniper and the last two Skulls were standing right across from them, ready to fight.

"And I thought the outdoors was challenging to fight these guys at." Snake said, exhausted from the battle.

"It will be over soon." said Quiet.

The four combatants charged one another.

The Skull swung its machete at Snake.

He dodged by ducking and countering with a punch to its jaw.

The Skull tried to attack again, but Snake grabbed its hand holding the machete, yanked it out of its hand, backhanded the creature to stun it and plunged the blade into its neck.

The Skull howled in pain as broke away from Snake and attempted to pull its own machete out.

But Snake would not allow that as he suddenly tackled the creature to the ground, pinned its arms and legs down as best he could, grabbed the machete by its handle with one hand, pulled it out and performed a sawing motion with it on its head. He had to cut quickly to keep the creature from teleporting away. As long as it was in dire pain, evasion was impossible. Soon, he succeeded and its head came off and heavy blood spurted from the stump from the body.

Snake had seen worse.

As for Quiet, she fought with her own Skull opponent and after disarming it of its weapons, she quickly performed a handstand, wrapped her legs and thighs around the Skull's waist and hoisted it up in mid-air, keeping hold on both it and her handstand.

The Skull tried to break free, but was little match for her leg strength.

Snake stood and watched as Quiet remained still, keeping the Skull soldier trapped between her legs in the air.

At first, he felt that he should help her out, but then he backed off after remembering how she could handle herself and let her be.

Then he watched as Quiet used her legs to tear the Skull creature in half via bicestion. Its upper torso was flung in one direction and its lower half went in another.

Quiet got back to her feet and was soaked in Skull blood. Unlike with water, her skin did not absorb the blood. That would be stupid.

"You alright?" Snake asked as he approached her.

"Yes, I am fine." said Quiet, wiping some blood off of herself even though she could not get it all off.

"That was amazing. Where did you learn how do to that technique?" Snake said.

"I have killed like that before when I was physically human. But back then, it was in the form of strangulation. I was never able to tear my opponents apart like that then. Now, thanks to my parasitic enhancements, I am able to perform such a feat as you have just seen me do. However, I admit that I did not actually expect what just happened. I figured that I would just strangle the Skull creature to death like usual. Bisection was not part of the plan whatsoever and I am surprised of it as you are." she said and pointed to the severed torso of the Skull.

"Still, I have never seen that before. It's impressive." said Snake.

"Thanks." she said.

"So you never knew you can tear people in half like that?" Snake asked.

"No. I can choke people to death, bite ears off, smash testicles and lift intense weight that normal people have difficulty doing, but I never thought I could tear a body apart like that. It seems there are still things about my abilities that I have yet to learn despite having lived with them since Cyprus." said Quiet.

"I'm certain you'll unlock them all and I am willing to help you with that if you want." said Snake.

"I will and I would love that." said Quiet.

They looked around and realized that they were now the only occupants of the artificial island now that every Skull was dead. The freshly infected soldiers could not be saved because Eli destroyed their means of curing them like before, but, in a way, Snake and his companion freed them from their altered forms. A mercy-kill. Snake hated harming or killing his own troops, but he had no choice here.

"Well, now it's just us here." said Snake.

"It appears to be so." said Quiet.

"You want to summon a chopper and leave now or you want to wait on that and spend a while longer here together? To rest and such." Snake asked, half-joking and half-serious.

Quiet got what he was saying and enjoyed it.

But she desired to return to base in order to shower off the blood and dirt she had on her form from the grueling battle.

"I am flattered, but I believe we should get back to the base now. I want to clean myself and return to sleeping in our room . . . with you." said Quiet.

Snake liked the sound of that and mentally admitted that she was right about the cleaning part as he looked at himself and realized that he was in need of a shower, too.

"Alright. I'll summon our ride and we'll clean ourselves up. That, and I really do want to go to bed since it's still night." he said.

"So do I." she said.

Snake used his radio to call in a helicopter and she and Quiet went to the island's helipad and waited.

Minutes later, a helicopter arrived and slowly descended onto the pad.

"I'm here, Boss. Are they all gone?" asked the pilot via radio.

"Yes. Quiet and I got rid of every Skull here. Keeping them was risky and we just couldn't take that." Snake said back into his own radio.

"Okay, I'm coming down." said the pilot and the helicopter lowered until it touched the ground.

Snake opened the door and he and Quiet entered.

He closed the door and sat down on the back seat and he and Quiet fastened their seat belts.

"Strapped in?" asked the pilot.

"Yeah. We both are." said Snake.

"Alright. Gaining altitude. We're heading back." said the pilot and the helicopter ascended and started to fly away from the island.

"It's going to take weeks, maybe months, to clean that place up." said Snake as he stared at the island from his window seat.

 _At least the threat there is vanquished and the base is safe once again from future outbreaks and the like._ Quiet thought, too exhausted to speak.

They arrived back to the main base and the two started to head back to their room the second they landed, not wanting to speak to anyone due to their tiredness. All they wanted was a nice hot shower to rinse the blood and grime off their forms and go right to bed.

They cleaned themselves in the shower stall, this time together at the same time instead of separately, something that they both enjoyed.

"How are you feeling?" Snake asked.

"Good. It feels better with you here with me." said Quiet.

When they finished, Snake dried himself off while Quiet absorbed the leftover water through her skin.

After turning off the light, they just plopped onto the bed, kissed each other and went right to sleep.

* * *

 **Sorry this took long. Anyway, here's what I came up with after months of inactivity. The Skulls on the island are gone and Snake and Quiet are back home, resting. What will they do next in the next chapter? You'll have to wait and see.**

 **Can anyone guess where Quiet's killing move against the last Skull came from? Huh? HUH? Here's a big clue: it was seen in 1997 and in 2011. Know what I'm talking about?**

 **As of this writing on 12/07/2019, happy holidays! Don't let Krampus see you or he'll keel you!**


End file.
